Namibia's 'founding father' Sam Nujoma dies aged 95

The Star

Sam Nujoma, the activist and guerrilla leader who became Namibia's first democratically elected president after it won its independence from apartheid South Africa, died aged 95 on Saturday, the Namibian Presidency said on Sunday.   Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yck32ttv  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00Sam Njoma, the activist and guerrilla leader who became Namibia's first democratically

00:07elected president after its independence from apartheid-era South Africa, died on Saturday

00:13at the age of 95.

00:15Njoma led the sparsely populated Southern African nation from March 21, 1990, and was

00:22officially recognized as the founding father of the Namibian nation through a 2005 Act

00:28of Parliament.

00:29A long-time ally of Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, he supported Mugabe's land seizures

00:35from white farmers, though at home he adhered to a willing-buyer, willing-seller land policy.

00:42The presidency announced on X that Njoma had been hospitalized for medical treatment over

00:47the past three weeks.

00:49Serving three terms from 1990 to 2005, Njoma sought to position himself as a unifying leader,

00:56bridging political divides in a country still grappling with the legacy of apartheid and

01:01German colonial rule.

01:03Under his SWAPO party, Namibia implemented a national reconciliation program under the

01:09motto, One Namibia, One Nation.

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