After a 23-year war of independence and three terms as president, Sam Nujoma of Namibia is ready to step down, bringing an end to an era marked by fiery rhetoric as well as pragmatism and stability.
The 75-year-old Nujoma is the father of his southwest African nation and the only leader its 1,8 million people have ever known.
But after presidential elections on Monday and Tuesday, Nujoma will prepare to hand over power, presumably to Hifikepunye Pohamba, his hand-picked successor and former comrade in arms.
The election, which neutral observers expect to be free and fair, underlines how southern Africa — except for deeply troubled Zimbabwe — has emerged from turmoil and settled into democratic routines.
Outside Namibia, Nujoma is known for making outlandish statements and fiercely defending his old friend President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who is widely seen as a tyrant.
At a United Nations conference in Geneva in 2000, Nujoma stunned delegates when he claimed HIV/Aids was a man-made biological weapon. His tirades against homosexuals and threats to arrest and deport them drew international condemnation.
He once banned all foreign television programs, declaring they had corrupted the youth of Namibia.
But Phanuel Kaapama, a political science professor at the University of Namibia, defended Nujoma, saying ”all leaders make statements they regret”.
Nujoma took office in 1990 and has presided over a country rich in diamonds and strategic metals, but it is ethnically fragmented and largely controlled by a tiny white minority closely aligned to South Africa.
When South Africa switched peacefully to black majority rule under Nelson Mandela, Namibia followed suit.
More recently, Nujoma has been warning white farmers to share their land with blacks or risk facing a situation similar to that in Zimbabwe, where thousands of white-owned farms have been seized for redistribution to blacks.
Nujoma’s comments triggered fears that his country would suffer the same violence and economic chaos that Zimbabwe’s land reforms unleashed.
In a speech at a UN summit in Johannesburg, Nujoma rebuked British Prime Minister Tony Blair for pressuring Zimbabwe, a former British colony, to improve its human rights record. If that’s how the West felt, Nujoma said, it could keep its aid and Africa would go it alone.
His aides later explained he was talking only about aid with conditions attached.
”Nujoma likes to sound off, but all that rhetoric doesn’t translate into political action,” said Graham Hopwood, a Namibian political analyst and author of a book on Namibian politics.
”His policies are middle of the road.”
Hopwood noted that a few weeks after the speech, Nujoma was signing deals accepting large amounts of aid from the European Union.
Nujoma is revered here for having almost single-handedly brought about peace, independence and stability. Kaapama said he has always been a pragmatist and would be remembered as a founding father who kept the country together under very difficult conditions.
More than 21% of Namibians are HIV-infected. The country also suffers from deep poverty and perennial food shortages.
But despite Nujoma’s enduring popularity, fears about the future of Namibian democracy were raised when the constitution was changed to give him a third term five years ago.
On a continent with a long, tragic history of despotic rule, some feared the autocratic Nujoma would become another president-for-life.
Power struggles in the ruling party and Nujoma’s decision to send Namibian troops to back the government in the Democratic Republic of Congo heightened those fears.
But now, as he prepares to leave office when his term expires next March, he is revered for having ultimately played by the democratic rules.
”Some Namibians wanted him to stay on,” said Kaapama.
”But most Namibians rejoice that he respected the Constitution and decided to retire.”
Nujoma will remain the head of his party, the South West Africa People’s Organisation, and will still wield considerable clout.
”The people know he will be there in the background, and that is not seen as a negative thing,” said Hopwood. – Sapa-AP