Sam Nujoma, the revolutionary chief who guided Namibia to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990 and served as its first president for 15 years, has died at 95.
Hailed as Namibia’s “founding father”, Nujoma handed away on Saturday night time following a three-week hospitalisation within the capital, Windhoek, in line with the Namibian presidency.
“The foundations of the Republic of Namibia have been shaken,” the presidency mentioned in a Fb publish asserting his demise. There might be a interval of “nationwide mourning”, it added.
and revolutionary chief, H.E. Dr. Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma.” @DrNangoloMbumba President Nujoma handed on on the age of 95 on the eighth of February at 23h45 in Windhoek, Namibia. Learn full assertion: https://t.co/Aw4VpZp4Y4
— Namibian Presidency (@NamPresidency) February 9, 2025
Nujoma was revered in his homeland as a charismatic father determine who steered his nation to democracy and stability after lengthy colonial rule by Germany and a bitter battle of independence from South Africa.
He was the final of a era of African leaders who led their international locations out of colonial or white minority rule that included South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda and Mozambique’s Samora Machel.
Nujoma headed the South West Africa Individuals’s Organisation (SWAPO) that led the liberation battle since its inception in 1960.
Whereas SWAPO has remained in energy since independence, Nujoma lastly give up in 2007 on the age of 78, two years after standing down from the presidency.
Many Namibians credited Nujoma’s management for the method of nationwide therapeutic and reconciliation after the deep divisions attributable to the independence battle and South Africa’s insurance policies of dividing the nation into ethnically based mostly regional governments.
Even his political opponents praised Nujoma – who was branded a Marxist – for establishing a democratic structure and involving white businessmen and politicians in authorities after independence. He was additionally recognized for his fierce anti-Western rhetoric and railing in opposition to homosexuality, which he referred to as a “overseas and corrupt ideology” and AIDS illness “a man-made organic weapon”.
However whereas he succeeded in establishing democratic establishments and shifting ahead with reconciliation, his autocratic tendencies forged a shadow over his legacy, mentioned Ndumba Kamwanyah, a lecturer on the College of Namibia and a political analyst.
“Whereas Nujoma’s presidency was foundational in establishing Namibia’s independence and governance, it was not with out flaws,” mentioned Kamwanyah.
‘Most management’
Born to poor farmers from the Ovambo tribe in a tiny village in northwestern Namibia in 1929, Nujoma traced the awakening of his political consciousness to his teenage years when he moved to the harbour city of Walvis Bay.
Arriving aged 17, he lived with an aunt in a Black township and was aware of grownup conversations in regards to the plight of Black folks underneath white-minority rule.
The eldest of 10 youngsters, Nujoma’s first job was as a railway sweeper close to Windhoek in 1949 whereas he went to nighttime college, in line with an autobiography revealed in 2001. It was there that he was launched to Herero tribal chief Hosea Kutako, who was lobbying to finish apartheid rule in Namibia, then often known as South West Africa.
Kutako grew to become his mentor, shepherding the younger Nujoma as he grew to become politically lively amongst Black employees in Windhoek who have been resisting a authorities order to maneuver to a brand new township within the late Fifties.
At Kutako’s request, Nujoma started life in exile in 1960, first to Botswana, leaving his spouse and 4 youngsters behind. The identical 12 months, he was elected president of SWAPO, later shuttling from capital to capital within the quest for assist and launching a low-level armed battle in 1966.
It took greater than a decade of strain from Nujoma and others earlier than a United Nations Safety Council decision in 1978 proposed a ceasefire and elections. One other decade glided by for the ceasefire deal to be signed and elections held in late 1989.
SWAPO received a majority in these elections, and Nujoma took workplace in March 1990.
On retirement from the presidency, he enrolled for a grasp’s diploma in geology, believing that Namibia’s mountains contained untapped mineral wealth.
“Nujoma offered most management to our nation and spared no effort to encourage every Namibian to construct a rustic that will stand tall and proud among the many nations of the world,” mentioned the presidency.
