Namibia’s first president, Sam Nujoma, passed away at the age of 95.

Sam Nujoma, the passionate liberation leader who guided Namibia to freedom from apartheid South Africa in 1990 and occupied the role of its first president for 15 years, has passed away at the age of 95. Nujoma’s passing was disclosed on Sunday by the current Namibian president Nangolo Mbumba. Mbumba stated that Nujoma passed away on Saturday night after being admitted to the hospital in Windhoek, the capital.

Nujoma was honored in his native land as the charismatic father of the nation who guided his country toward democracy and stability following lengthy colonial domination by Germany and a fierce struggle for independence from South Africa. He was the final figure of a generation of African leaders who guided their nations out of colonial or white minority governance, which encompassed South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda, and Mozambique’s Samora Machel.

Numerous Namibians attributed the process of national healing and reconciliation to Nujoma’s leadership following the significant rifts created by the independence war and South Africa’s strategies of partitioning the country into ethnically specific regional governments, which provided distinct education and healthcare services for each race. Even his political rivals lauded Nujoma – labeled a Marxist and charged with brutally quashing dissent during his exile – for creating a democratic constitution and including white businessmen and politicians in the government post-independence.

Even with his practical approach and domestic nation-building efforts, Nujoma frequently made international news due to his strong anti-western statements. He asserted that Aids was a man-made biological weapon and at times launched a verbal assault on homosexuality, labeling gays as “idiots” and characterizing homosexuality as a “foreign and corrupt ideology.”