Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Post-independence
In those first optimistic years of his presidency, Sam Nujoma and his Swapo party based
their policies on a national reconciliation program aimed at healing the wounds left by 25
years of armed struggle. They also embarked on a reconstruction program based on the re-
tention of a mixed economy and partnership with the private sector.
These moderate policies and the stability they afforded were well received, and in 1994
President Nujoma and his party were re-elected with a 68% landslide victory over the
main opposition party, the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA). Similarly, in 1999
Swapo won 76.8% of the vote, although concerns arose when President Nujoma amended
the constitution to allow himself a rather unconstitutional third term.
Other political problems included growing unrest in the Caprivi Strip. On 2 August
1999, rebels - mainly members of Namibia's Lozi minority led by Mishake Muyongo, a
former vice president of Swapo and a long-time proponent of Caprivian independence -
attempted to seize Katima Mulilo. However, the poorly trained perpetrators failed to cap-
ture any of their intended targets, and after only a few hours, they were summarily put
down by the Namibian Defence Force (NDF).
Later that year, Nujoma also committed troops from the NDF to support the Angolan
government in its civil war against Unita rebels - an act that triggered years of strife for
the inhabitants of the Caprivi Strip, where fighting and lawlessness spilled over the bor-
der. When a family of French tourists was robbed and murdered while driving between
Kongola and Divundu, the issue exploded in the international press, causing tourist num-
bers to plummet. Continuing reports of fighting, attacks on civilians and land-mine deton-
ations caused a huge exodus of people from the region, and kept tourists firmly away until
the cessation of the conflict in 2002.
In 2004 the world watched warily to see if Nujoma would cling to power for a fourth
term, and an almost audible sigh of relief could be heard in Namibia when he announced
that he would finally be stepping down in favour of his chosen successor, Hifikepunye Po-
hamba.
Like Sam Nujoma, Pohamba is a Swapo veteran, and he swept to power with nearly
77% of the vote. In 2009 he was re-elected for a second term. He left behind the land min-
istry, where he presided over one of Namibia's most controversial schemes - the expropri-
ation of land from white farmers. This policy formed part of the 'poverty agenda' which,
along with Namibia's HIV/AIDS crisis, the unequal distribution of incomes, fair manage-
ment of the country's resource wealth and the challenge of raising living standards for
Namibia's poor, are the defining domestic issues of his presidency.
