Sam Nujoma, Namibia’s founding president and central figure of its struggle for independence, was honoured with a state funeral at Heroes Acre in Windhoek as the nation marked the passing of a man who helped shape its 20th-century history. According to AP News, his burial on March 1, 2025, followed a period of national mourning and ceremonial tributes that included a 21-gun salute, a military flypast and wide public attendance.

Nujoma’s rise from a rural upbringing to the leadership of the South West African People's Organisation established him as the personification of Namibia’s liberation movement. AP reporting notes he spent nearly three decades in exile, building SWAPO’s international profile and laying the diplomatic groundwork that helped secure independence in 1990.

He served as president from 1990 until 2005, presiding over the formative years of an independent Namibia and promoting policies of reconciliation that sought to bind a diverse society emerging from colonial rule. Editorial commentary in Namibian outlets has emphasised his role in consolidating stability and institutional continuity in the post-independence era.

Nujoma’s record was not without contention. International coverage and retrospective analysis point to periods of sharp rhetoric, critiques of foreign media and controversial public positions on social issues that attracted criticism both at home and abroad. These complexities have become part of how historians and commentators assess his long public life.

The national reaction to his death revealed both deep respect and a generational divide. AP described extensive public ceremonies and a nationwide opportunity to pay final respects, while local reporting has noted that many younger Namibians view his passing through a lens shaped by distance from the liberation era, prompting conversations about collective memory and the transmission of historical lessons.

Across southern Africa and beyond, commentators have placed Nujoma among the cohort of post-war African leaders who led liberation movements and then steered newly independent states. Tributes in regional media framed him as one of the last prominent liberation icons of the Southern African Development Community, even as they urged successors and citizens to carry forward the commitments to unity, development and democratic governance that marked his public life.

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Source: Noah Wire Services