Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma, the first president of Namibia also terms the founding president of the country turned 91 years old yesterday Tuesday 12th of May 2020. Due to the pandemic outbreak, Nujoma was able to celebrate his birthday with only his family and close friends present in order to avoid mass gathering and increase the risk of spreading the COVID 19 virus.
Sam Nujoma was born on the 12th of May 1929 in Ongandjera, a town in the Northern region of Namibia to Daniel Uutomi Nujoma and Helvi Mpingana Kondombolo. Helvi Mpingana Kondombolo was a Uukwambi princess.
Samuel Nujoma was the first child of his parent’s 11 children.
At the age of 10, Nujoma moved to Walvis Bay. He lived with his aunt there and got his first job at a general store, he was paid 10 shillings monthly. While at Walvis bay he became exposed to politics by meeting soldiers from all across the world who visited during World war II.
At age 20, Nujoma moved to Windhoek and worked as a cleaner for the South African Railways (SAR) and at the same time, he attended Saint Barnabas Anglican church night school to improve his English. Nujoma became involved in politics in his twenties through trade unions. At the age of 29, Nujoma resigned from his post at South African Railways (SAR) to focus on his political career.
Nujoma along with some other Namibians in Cape Town formed the Ovamboland People’s Congress (OPC) in 1957. The Congress was led by Andimba Toivo ya Toivo. In 1959, Nujoma along with the co-founder of OPC formed the Ovamboland People’s Organisation (OPO). The organisation was led by Nujoma.
The following year, Nujoma returned to Namibia to secretly set up a branch for the Organisation. OPO became a member of the South West African National Union (SWANU) in 1959 led by Nujoma. The following year, Nujoma became the president of South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO).
Nujoma authorised the armed resistance after years of asking the United Nations (UN) to ensure the occupying power of South Africa relinquish control of south-west Africa which led to the Namibia war of Independence in 1966.
The war lasted for 24 years. During the war, Nujoma took the combat name “Shafiishuna,” which means “lightning” in his Father’s language. During the war, Nujoma also became the Commander-in-Chief of the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) and also the chairman of the SWAPO military council.
Nujoma was sworn into power on the 21st of March 1990 by the United Nations secretary-general Javier Perez de Cuellar.
