Namibia in 2004

Namibia in 2004

Area: 825,118 sq km (318,580 sq mi)
Population (2004 est.): 1,954,000
Capital: Windhoek
Chief of state and head of government: President Sam Nujoma, assisted by Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab

Until the South West African People’s Organization (SWAPO) held an extraordinary congress in May 2004, there was intense competition over the successor to Sam Nujoma as president of Namibia. One of the leading contenders, Hidipo Hamutenya, was dismissed by Nujoma from his government on the eve of the congress. After Nujoma made clear that he favoured Hifikepunye Pohamba as his successor, the congress ratified the decision, and few were surprised that Pohamba won the election held in mid-November. Nujoma, who was voted a very generous retirement package by the parliament, was to remain SWAPO president after he stepped down as president of the country in March 2005.

The issue of land redistribution continued to arouse much controversy. The government now claimed that some white farmers were unwilling to sell their land and began to use its powers to expropriate farms. An evaluation of commercial farmland was conducted, and on this basis a land tax was to be imposed to help fund the state’s acquisition of agricultural land for resettling the estimated quarter of a million people who wanted such land. It remained unclear, however, how resettlement would work in a country as arid as Namibia.

Some Herero people placed hope in the legal action they had brought against the German government. They sought recompense for the genocide carried out by the Germans against them after the Herero uprising of 1904. A German minister who attended the centenary commemoration of the genocide in August apologized for what had happened, but both the German and Namibian governments remained firmly opposed to the payment of reparations.

Christopher Saunders