NAMIBIA: End of an era as Nujoma steps down

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

WINDHOEK, 18 Mar 2005 (IRIN) - On Monday Namibia enters a new era - one without President Sam Nujoma at the helm. After 15 years of rule, the white-bearded liberation war leader, affectionately known as "the old man", hands over to his successor, Hifikepunye Pohamba.

At the final cabinet meeting this week, Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab paid tribute to Nujoma's leadership and described him as an "extraordinary son of the soil".

Nujoma, 75, said he was retiring in the knowledge that the foundations for democracy and economic prosperity had been laid through the collective leadership of his colleagues in the SWAPO party, which he has led for more than four decades.

"We jointly adopted policies and took decision that have changed the face of Namibia from an outpost of apartheid colonial occupation and oppression to a vibrant democratic society," he noted.

Namibia is a middle-income country, which, over the past 15 years, has sought to shake off the enmity and racial divisions of the past, and build a modern economy that serves all its people.

The literacy rate now stands at 80 percent, with over 90 percent of all school-going children enrolled in primary schools. The road and communications network has been expanded throughout the arid country, and reliable water and electricity supply now reaches some 80 percent of the population.

"The outgoing president has laid strong foundations in the past 15 years," said Tarah Shikongo, a young entrepreneur who runs a small IT business in Katutura, a township of the capital, Windhoek.

"We are a free nation - since 1990 a lot of development took place. It will take some time to get used to the fact that Nujoma will not be the leader of the nation anymore," he told IRIN.

Economic growth has been steady at an average of 3.8 percent, with a relatively small debt stock of around US $1.6 billion.

"A lot was achieved under outgoing President Nujoma and through his leadership," acknowledged Johan de Waal, chairman of the opposition Democratic Turnhalle Alliance.

"Under his reign Namibia attracted a lot of donor funds for development projects, also foreign direct investment; and under his rule the Namibianisation of corporations and the different economic sectors have been achieved," De Waal told the French news agency, AFP.

Yet close to 35 percent of the two million population lives on less than US $1 per day, and nearly 56 percent manage on less than US $2 per day, according to the latest World Bank report on Namibia. Unemployment, at around 35 percent, remains a major headache.

HIV/AIDS prevalence is the fifth highest in the world, at 22.5 percent of adults aged between 15 and 49 years; as a result of the fall in life expectancy, Namibia has slipped on the UN Human Development Index rankings.

A former railway worker, Nujoma became the head of SWAPO in 1960. He led SWAPO forces from exile against South African rule, before returning to the country in 1989 and winning elections by a landslide the following year.

He was re-elected in 1994 but was criticised for having the constitution changed so that he could be elected to a third term in 1999.

Last year Nujoma helped ensure the selection of Pohamba, 69, as SWAPO's presidential candidate. SWAPO won two-thirds of parliamentary seats in general elections in November 2004.

[ENDS]