No good morning – former minister Iivula-Ithana on Nujoma’s death

Former minister and Swapo secretary general Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana says were it not for founding president Sam Nujoma, Namibia’s independence would have taken longer to achieve.

Nujoma died on Saturday night after spending several days at a private hospital in Windhoek.

He was 95.

“It’s not a good morning as usual today. We woke up to the sad news of the passing of our founding president Dr Nujoma. This whole week, we have been alerted to the fact that he has been in hospital in a critical but stable condition, so his passing did not come to us as a surprise.

“We have been praying for his recovery. Our founding president was not young. At the age of 95, one becomes vulnerable. We have been praying for him, but our prayers this time did not find a blessing,” she said on Sunday.

Iivula-Ithana said Nujoma has left Namibia matured at the age of 35 after having led it to independence and being its first president.

“Even the children born at independence cannot claim to be children. We’ve learnt a lot from this brave son of Africa. A man of wisdom and foresight. Were it not for Nujoma, Namibia’s independence could have taken longer. With his leadership in exile he embraced all the young people as his own children.

“He made us who we claim to be today. He bought in a spirit of Namibian-ness. We thank him immensely. He established the republic of Namibia. That we must be grateful for,” she said.

She said Nujoma made tremendous efforts to steer the ship after he inherited a country that was nearly broke.

“I remember at independence when we took over the now-referred-to as ‘Old State House’ was left bare with only a telephone head, with no money in the coffers, and he had to galvanize money for us to have our own treasury.

“The first governor of Namibia was Swedish, because this person was collecting donations from the international community in order to establish our own treasury.

“He made friends all over the world to be able to set up our Cabinet and ministers being paid a salary,” she said.