Sam Nujoma, the revolutionary leader 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 passed away on Saturday night following a three-week hospitalisation in the capital, Windhoek, according to the Namibian presidency.
“The foundations of the Republic of Namibia have been shaken,” the presidency said in a Facebook post announcing his death. There will be a period of “national mourning”, it added.
and revolutionary leader, H.E. Dr. Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma.” @DrNangoloMbumba President Nujoma passed on at the age of 95 on the 8th of February at 23h45 in Windhoek, Namibia. Read full statement: https://t.co/Aw4VpZp4Y4
— Namibian Presidency (@NamPresidency) February 9, 2025
Nujoma was revered in his homeland as a charismatic father figure who steered his country to democracy and stability after long colonial rule by Germany and a bitter war of independence from South Africa.
He was the last of a generation of African leaders who led their countries 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 People’s Organisation (SWAPO) that led the liberation struggle since its inception in 1960.
While SWAPO has remained in power since independence, Nujoma finally quit in 2007 at the age of 78, two years after standing down from the presidency.
Many Namibians credited Nujoma’s leadership for the process of national healing and reconciliation after the deep divisions caused by the independence war and South Africa’s policies of dividing the country into ethnically based regional governments.
Even his political opponents praised Nujoma – who was branded a Marxist – for establishing a democratic constitution and involving white businessmen and politicians in government after independence. He was also known for his fierce anti-Western rhetoric and railing against homosexuality, which he called a “foreign and corrupt ideology” and AIDS disease “a man-made biological weapon”.
But while he succeeded in establishing democratic institutions and moving forward with reconciliation, his autocratic…