I shed tears of joy when Sam Nujoma took the oath of office as President of independent Namibia on March 21, 1990. My tears were a cathartic response to victory against Apartheid, that criminal policy that had enslaved millions of Southern African people in their homelands for decades. Coming after Nelson Mandela’s release from a South African jail a month earlier, the events in Windhoek heralded the final strike against Apartheid in South Africa itself. There was a new spring in one’s gait, an easy smile offered to complete strangers, an inner confidence that the first phase of Africa’s struggle for freedom was coming to an end. 

I had become aware of Nujoma in the 1970s. My relocation to Lesotho in 1978 had brought me in contact with exiles from Rhodesia, South Africa and Southwest Africa. Some had become my tutors on the realities of Apartheid. Thanks to our Kenyan travel documents, which allowed my wife and I entry into South Africa, our visits to that country brought us face to face with the wretched policies and attitudes under which fellow Africans laboured and lived. Interactions with Basotho migrant workers in the gold mines and factories of South Africa painted a very dark picture of the ugly system upon which the glittering wealth of that country was built. Conversations with European-South Africans, and personal encounters with racism, turned an irritating but distant story into a lived experience, albeit far removed from the pain of being a native of those occupied countries.

I was awed by the bravery of the heroes of the great struggle for freedom, among them Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi, Raymond Mhlaba, Robert Sobukwe, Toivo ya Toivo, Desmond Tutu, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, and Sam Nujoma. I am still humbled by their extraordinary courage and resilience.

The liberation of Zimbabwe in 1980 brought great joy and hope for freedom. However, the rapid unravelling of Zimbabwe, that began with the bloody killings of Zimbabweans by Zimbabwean troops, chilled my spirits and induced fear that the liberation struggle further south might follow a similarly disappointing path. However, when Nujoma claimed the throne of Namibia, his exemplary leadership eased those fears. Democracy, rule of law, women’s and children’s rights became a way of life, not mere declarations by the president.

Nujoma was not perfect, of course. Amending the Constitution to allow himself a third term as president in 1999 was very disappointing. His acquisition of a presidential plane and a couple of helicopters even as he was seeking assistance for Namibia during a frightening drought suggested a disconnect with reality. 

However, after 15 years at the helm, Nujoma handed power to another Namibian and gently retreated to a well-deserved retirement. After 20 years of dignified retirement, Nujoma took leave of Earth on Saturday February 8, 2025, three months shy of turning 96. I shed tears of joyful sadness when I received that news.

My tears were a celebratory response to the end of a long and consequential life of a man who had successfully fought for his people, not for his ego. Nujoma transitioned from a guerrilla leader to a healer of his fractured land, a creator of a united and genuinely democratic nation, a good shepherd of a people where tribe, race, age, and gender were effectively subjugated to the rule of law and a common identity as Namibians. 

Yet Nujoma could have easily gone the way of other liberation movement leaders that had merged their personal identities with their countries. His story had the ingredients that would have favoured bitterness, entitlement, and a claim to dynastic rule. 

Nujoma, who started school at the age of ten, dropped out after primary six. He then worked as a low wage labourer. He endured humiliation at the hands of Europeans in his own country. He went into exile where he embarked on a heroic and risky political, diplomatic and military struggle. He was separated from his wife and children for ten years before they joined him in Tanzania. His father was arrested and imprisoned in a South African prison, from where he contracted tuberculosis that killed him. Nujoma lost many years of potential personal economic growth and development. 

Having taken control of Namibia, he could have done what other “liberation” leaders had done to reward themselves. After all he had the political and military might, along with near universal support of his people, to declare himself the anointed one. Had he not willingly passed through the furnace where others had wavered? Would illegal personal enrichment, a life presidency of Namibia, and the creation of a Nujoma dynasty, not have been just rewards for his sacrifice? 

Instead, Nujoma led his country with a focus on what was good for Namibians, not for himself alone. He intentionally strengthened the institutions of a sustainable democracy, then quit while he was still much loved and energetic. He was only 75 years old when he handed power to Hifikepunye Pohamba in 2005.  Though he remained available to his successors for advice and loyal counsel, Nujoma used his retirement to read for a master’s degree in geology, which he obtained in 2009. He lived under three presidencies before he checked out last weekend. That must have given him good thoughts and a grateful smile even as his life ebbed away. 

His people rightly declared Nujoma to be the “Leader of the Namibian Revolution” and the “Father of the Nation.” He joined a small club of African leaders who sought the advancement of their people, and did not use their people to advance their personal agendas or feed their fragile egos. This was the club of Kenneth David Kaunda of Zambia, Sir Seretse Goitsebeng Khama of Botswana, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela of South Africa, Julius Kambarage Nyerere of Tanzania, and Léopold Sédar Senghor of Senegal. 

Like Nujoma, these were fallible men who made errors of judgement. Some, like Kaunda, Nyerere and Senghor imprisoned a few political opponents and exercised authoritarian rule over their one-party states. Nujoma himself was what I call a democratic autocrat. However, these men created conditions that enabled peaceful transition of power and set precedents that made it possible for their successors to follow suit. Whereas Seretse Khama died in office at age 59, he fostered a culture of transparent, accountable and democratic governance that became Botswana’s political signature upon which his successors built a solid democracy.

Namibia has lost a leader, Africa a statesman, humanity a freedom fighter. He has left his people a great legacy, and realistic hope for continued growth and development in a free and just society.