The first president of independent Namibia, Sam Nujoma, who led the fight for independence from South Africa in 1990 after assisting to found Namibia’s Liberation Movement known as the South West Peoples’ Organisation (SWAPO) in the 1960s, has died at the age of 95 in the capital Windhoek.
Nujoma’s death was announced by the country’s current leader, President Nangolo Mbumba.
Nujoma, who became president in 1990 after Namibian’s independence, led the country until 2005, had been hospitalised over the past three weeks with an illness from which he “could not recover”.
A statement announcing his death by the current Namibian President, Nangolo Mbumba, said it was “utmost sorrow and sadness” that he announced the death of the first President of the country, Sam Nujoma.
According to Mbumba; “Nujoma inspired us to rise to our feet and to become masters of this vast land of our ancestors. “Our founding father lived a long and consequential life during which he exceptionally served the people of his beloved country,” he said.
Nujoma retired as head of state in 2005, but continued to lead the party before stepping down in 2007 as president of the ruling SWAPO party after 47 years at the helm.
Many Namibians have reacted to his death with sadness, fondly remembering him as “father of the nation”, says the BBC’s Frauke Jensen in Namibia’s capital, Windhoek.
Nujoma is widely credited for ensuring peace and stability after independence from South Africa, which was then under white-minority rule, in 1990.
Nujoma’s policy of national reconciliation encouraged the country’s white community to remain, and they still play a major role in farming and other sectors of the economy.
He also championed the rights of women and children, including making fathers pay for the maintenance of children born out of wedlock.
Namibia’s Vice-President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is due to be inaugurated as president in March after leading Swapo to victory in elections, said his “visionary leadership and dedication to liberation and nation-building laid the foundation for our free, united nation”.
African leaders have joined in paying tribute to Nujoma, with African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat describing him as “the epitome of courage, never wavering from his vision for a free Namibia and a unified Africa”.
Kenya’s President William Ruto said he was a “visionary leader who dedicated his life to the liberation and development of his country”.
…Sourced from the BBC
