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 hospitalization 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.
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.
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