Windhoek: The founding father of the Namibian nation, Sam Nujoma, who died on February 8, will be buried on Saturday in the presence of Angolan President Joo Lourenço. Sam Nujoma, who died at the age of 95, will be buried at the Heroes’ Acre Memorial on the outskirts of Windhoek on the day that the country’s President, Nangolo Mbumba, declared a national holiday.
According to Angola Press News Agency, the ceremony will take place from 10h00 to 12h00 and will culminate with the laying of the urn at the Heroes’ Acre grave, a 21-gun salute and an aerial display. In his speech at the Independence Stadium on Friday, Angolan President Joo Lourenço paid tribute to the founding father of the Namibian nation, describing Sam Nujoma as an outstanding figure in contemporary African history and an indestructible symbol of Southern Africa’s liberation struggle against colonial rule and the apartheid regime.
Joo Lourenço stressed that a courageous man, a staunch Namibian patriot and a true son of Africa has passed on to e
ternity. An activist and leader of the country’s struggle for independence, Sam Nujoma became Namibia’s first democratically elected president. He was inaugurated on 21 March 1990 and was formally recognized as the “Founding Father of the Namibian Nation” by an Act of Parliament in 2005.
Sam Nujoma served three terms as president, from 1990 to 2005, and sought to project himself as a unifying leader, bridging political divides. In a country marked by the legacy of apartheid and German colonial rule, the SWAPO party, which he founded and led, implemented a program of national reconciliation under the slogan “One Namibia, One Nation.”