​​Former president Hifikepunye Pohamba reflects on his unexpected succession of Sam Nujoma in autobiography

Former president Hifikepunye Pohamba says he questioned why he was selected as the successor of Namibia’s first head of state, Sam Nujoma.

In his newly released autobiography, titled ‘Footprints of Hifikepunye Pohamba – Ondjila Eyi A Enda’, Pohamba recounts that Swapo members approached him in early 2004 to stand as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2004 presidential and parliamentary elections.

At the time, he was serving as the minister of lands, resettlement and rehabilitation and as Swapo’s vice president.

“Although I was ever ready to serve my party, this time I could not help but ask ‘why me?’,” Pohamba says.

He says the fact that Nujoma was retiring after his third term made it easier for him to eventually accept his nomination as candidate.

It looked like a natural progression – from the secretary general to the vice president, then the president, although this is not at all an automatic sequence,” the former president says.

Pohamba at the time campaigned for the position of Swapo president and the party’s presidential candidate role against Nahas Angula and Hidipo Hamutenya.

He doesn’t shy away from mentioning the influence Nujoma’s support had on his campaign.

Pohamba refers to Nujoma often narrating his track record and the risks he [Pohamba] took during the liberation struggle.

Particularly his first mission, which he undertook in 1962, during which he was arrested and jailed, and the 1966 mission during which he volunteered to accompany Nujoma to challenge the apartheid regime in Namibia.

“It was an interesting historical manifestation where I was often painted as comrade Nujoma’s favourite candidate,” Pohamba says.

Political analyst Henning Melber says despite signs that he may not have wanted to lead, Pohamba’s fate was already decided.

“By all that we know, Tate Pohamba did not aspire to this position as president, but was to a large extent the selected next president by circumstances, since he was one of Nujoma’s choices,” he says.

‘NO DIRTY POLITICS’

Pohamba says he did not engage in dirty campaign tactics against his opponents in the 2004 Swapo congress.

While it was not easy for him to campaign for votes among his party members, he refrained from doing so against his ‘comrades’, he says.

“My heart and mind could not permit me to de-campaign my very own comrades with whom I shared the trenches during our long and bitter struggle for independence,” he writes.

When the congress results were released, Pohamba garnered 213 votes, while Hamutenya received 166 votes, and Angula 136.

None of the candidates received the required 51% of votes, which led to a recount.

Angula dropped out, leaving the competition between Pohamba and Hamutenya.

Pohamba eventually emerged victorious with 341 votes, while Hamutenya received 167 votes.

“It appears my support was broad-based, as after the final round when comrade Angula was knocked out of the running and a run-off was required, almost all of comrade Angula’s votes came to me, with only one vote having been added to comrade Hamutenya’s 166 votes,” Pohamba says.

He says his 2004 intra-party campaign was focused on his strengths and capabilities and the things he would do for Namibia should he be voted into office.

“I directed my campaign energy towards Swapo’s structures, because this was where the audience was mostly to comprise potential voters. This was where I would most likely get voters who were among the congress delegates,” Pohamba says.

The former president says his years as Swapo secretary general and as minister without a portfolio gave him access to the most relevant people within the party.

“The overwhelming support of comrade Nujoma validated my candidature, as he had worked with all candidates for many years and knew us well, yet he chose to support me out of the three of us,” he says.

In 2008, Pohamba referred to Swapo members who joined the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) as traitors, “like Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus”.

The RDP was formed by Pohamba’s ex-rival, Hamutenya, in 2007 after he was defeated in the Swapo congress.

Meanwhile, Melber says it was obvious that Pohamba would be Nujoma’s successor.

“We could witness how Hidipo Hamutenya was forced out and members of his faction victimised and ousted. Comrade Nahas opted out, reading the signs, to remain with influence in the party,” he says.

Melber says the 2004 congress had a singular nature.

“If Pohamba claims he never resorted to de-campaigning his competitors, this is true, but it is a mild euphemism – he actually never campaigned himself. It was president Nujoma who did,” he says.