Sam Nujoma, the fiery freedom fighter who led Namibia to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990 and served as its first president for 15 years, has died aged 95.
Nujoma’s death was announced Sunday by current Namibian president Nangolo Mbumba. Mbumba said Nujoma died on Saturday night after being hospitalised in the capital, Windhoek.
Among those who paid tribute was King Charles, who said he was “profoundly saddened to learn” of Nujoma’s death.
He said Nujoma’s “contribution to history was immense”, adding: “His lifelong commitment to freedom and democracy, overcoming so much adversity on that journey, was truly inspirational.”
He was revered in his homeland as the charismatic father of the nation 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.
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, with separate education and healthcare for each race.
Even his political opponents praised Nujoma – who was branded a Marxist and accused of ruthless suppression of dissent while in exile – for establishing a democratic constitution and involving white businessmen and politicians in government after independence.
Despite his pragmatism and nation-building at home, Nujoma often hit foreign headlines for his fierce anti-western rhetoric. He claimed Aids was a human-made biological weapon and also occasionally waged a verbal war on homosexuality, calling gays “idiots” and branding homosexuality a “foreign and corrupt ideology”.