How Sam Nujoma birthed Lüderitz’s fishing industry
A town transformed
Lüderitz's fishing legacy: A tribute to Sam Nujoma's pioneering leadership.
Dr Angel Tordesillas has credited late president Sam Nujoma with laying the foundation for the birth of Lüderitz’s fishing sector, saying had it not been for Nujoma, little to nothing might have happened in the sector in the southern harbour town.
Tordesillas, who served as Novanam’s CEO at the time of its establishment just after Namibia’s independence, said had it not been for Nujoma, the company would have opted to invest in Walvis Bay, a territory of the then South African apartheid regime.
According to Tordesillas, the company had set its sights on establishing its base in the then South West Africa, but Nujoma implored him to wait until it became an independent territory.
“I had met him before independence when we expressed our desire to set up an industrial activity in the fishing industry, and he said, ‘Please wait because you will be dealing with a regime that is not altogether the correct one; just wait,'” Tordesillas said.
Following the announcement of the election results, Tordesillas recalled meeting Nujoma again. Little did he know that Nujoma would make an interesting but difficult proposition.
“So elections took place a couple of years later, and on 11 November 1989, when the election results came out and Swapo was the overall winner, and within about two hours, I came to see him again and he said, ‘You can come to Namibia, but it must be Lüderitz.'”
“At the time it was like a meteorite had fallen on my lap because in Lüderitz there was no infrastructure, there were no skills, but that was the desire. I mean, Walvis Bay remained part of South Africa for another four years, so we decided to take the bull by the horns and we created hundreds of jobs,” Tordesillas added.
A new era
Thirty-four years later, Tordesillas says Lüderitz is now entering its third renaissance, following the discovery of diamonds in the early 1900s, the establishment of a fishing industry after independence, and now the potential development of oil and gas, as well as the green hydrogen industries.
"The oil and gas and the green hydrogen and kelp blue, and it is something very good. I mean, Lüderitz is experiencing the third renaissance," he explained.
"The first renaissance was when the first diamond was discovered in 1908, then the second renaissance was when Nujoma persuaded us to put up an industrial complex providing jobs, and now the third renaissance is now... Lüderitz is becoming a kind of epicentre of growth if everything goes according to plan,” Tordesillas said of Nujoma’s legacy on Lüderitz and the fishing sector in general.
Nujoma died in a Windhoek hospital on 8 February, aged 95.
Tordesillas, who served as Novanam’s CEO at the time of its establishment just after Namibia’s independence, said had it not been for Nujoma, the company would have opted to invest in Walvis Bay, a territory of the then South African apartheid regime.
According to Tordesillas, the company had set its sights on establishing its base in the then South West Africa, but Nujoma implored him to wait until it became an independent territory.
“I had met him before independence when we expressed our desire to set up an industrial activity in the fishing industry, and he said, ‘Please wait because you will be dealing with a regime that is not altogether the correct one; just wait,'” Tordesillas said.
Following the announcement of the election results, Tordesillas recalled meeting Nujoma again. Little did he know that Nujoma would make an interesting but difficult proposition.
“So elections took place a couple of years later, and on 11 November 1989, when the election results came out and Swapo was the overall winner, and within about two hours, I came to see him again and he said, ‘You can come to Namibia, but it must be Lüderitz.'”
“At the time it was like a meteorite had fallen on my lap because in Lüderitz there was no infrastructure, there were no skills, but that was the desire. I mean, Walvis Bay remained part of South Africa for another four years, so we decided to take the bull by the horns and we created hundreds of jobs,” Tordesillas added.
A new era
Thirty-four years later, Tordesillas says Lüderitz is now entering its third renaissance, following the discovery of diamonds in the early 1900s, the establishment of a fishing industry after independence, and now the potential development of oil and gas, as well as the green hydrogen industries.
"The oil and gas and the green hydrogen and kelp blue, and it is something very good. I mean, Lüderitz is experiencing the third renaissance," he explained.
"The first renaissance was when the first diamond was discovered in 1908, then the second renaissance was when Nujoma persuaded us to put up an industrial complex providing jobs, and now the third renaissance is now... Lüderitz is becoming a kind of epicentre of growth if everything goes according to plan,” Tordesillas said of Nujoma’s legacy on Lüderitz and the fishing sector in general.
Nujoma died in a Windhoek hospital on 8 February, aged 95.
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