To reach the age of 95 is no mean feat. It is an honour reserved for those who are truly blessed with the gift of long life and health.
It is with these well-wishing and wise words that President Nangolo Mbumba congratulated Founding President Sam Nujoma on his birthday.
Founding President Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma was born on May 12, 1929, at Etunda Village in Ongandjera.
His nine decades of life have been characterised by acts of selfless service towards the attainment of freedom for Namibians.
President Mbumba says on this day, Namibians celebrate the birthday of a national leader, commander-in-chief, supreme patriarch, and father of veteran fighters.
He described Nujoma’s life as a moment that resonates far and wide across Namibia and beyond its borders.
"Comrade Nujoma’s visionary leadership was evident from his youth when he resigned from his job at South African Railways to pursue a career in politics, with a goal to free the people of Namibia from the brutal Contract Labour and Pass Law Systems being administered by Apartheid South Africa, which was occupying Namibia illegally at that time," Mbumba recalled.
President Mbumba noted that the revolutionary path Nujoma pursued led him to become President of the Owamboland People’s Organisation (OPO), which later transformed into the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO).
Dr. Mbumba praised Nujoma as having persevered in the dangerous arena of struggle-era politics.
This, he says, is because Nujoma envisioned a future where Namibians could be free and exercise their collective right to govern themselves in an environment free from discrimination, violence, and hatred based on race, gender, or ethnicity.
"As a leader during the struggle, he could converse with anyone, from aspiring young freedom fighters to extraordinary personalities such as Gamal Abdel Nasser, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, and Julius Kambarage Nyerere, amongst others’.
President Mbumba also paid tribute to the Founding President for facilitating, through his diplomatic skills, the sending of many Namibian youth to receive their primary, secondary, and, above all, tertiary education to obtain high-level training.
"He was an expert nurturer and groomer with an eye for talent, developing leaders such as the late Comrades Hage Geingob, Moses ||Garoëb, Theo-Ben Gurirab, and Hidipo Hamutenya, amongst others. He also promoted women through the SWAPO ranks, from the likes of Comrade Libertina Amathila to Comrade Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana and Comrade Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah," Mbumba said.
The Head of State says as Namibians celebrate the 95th year in the life of the beloved Founding President, "we express our utmost appreciation to the man who led us to independence. He was the one to believe when others doubted; he saw victory where others saw defeat; he encouraged those around him when spirits were down; and he remained resolute when others wavered."