Namibia: ‘Mukoma Nujoma, Rovai Hondo Musunungure Namibia’

This headline loosely translates to ‘Comrade Nujoma, intensify the war to liberate Namibia’ – a song we sang in 1981 in Zimbabwe.

As we celebrate the illustrious life of Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma, Namibia’s first president and founding father, I would like to share with the few encounters I had with this gallant freedom fighter and astute leader of the Namibian revolution for freedom, independence and social justice.

I first met Nujoma in 1981 in Gweru, Zimbabwe, when I was a second-year student at…