Nujoma will step down in 2004. (Namibia).

It is now official. President Sam Nujoma who himself a third shot at the presidency, will changed the constitution in 1999 to give step down when his current (third) term ends in 2004, State House announced in early January, but in the midst of the hullabaloo over Zimbabwe, this all-important announcement went largely unnoticed internationally.

Locally, opposition parties have hailed the announcement as "respectful of the country's constitution", Hifkepunye Pohamba, secretary general of the ruling parry, Swapo, says it was Nujoma's own decision to retire. "He wants to comply with the constitution."

The announcement ended a period of speculation following Nujoma's own contradictory remarks on BBC World Service about the issue. "If the Namibian people said they wanted me to stand again in 2004, I would always be at their disposal," he told the BBC last April.

But three months later, he was telling the South African SABC radio that he would not run again, stressing that it had never been his intention to do so in the first place.

He told the SABC that he would make way for fresh blood but would remain in the parry leadership and work with the young people.

Now 75, Nujoma, according to the retirement announcement, would still stand for re-election as Swapo president at the parry's congress due this year. If re-elected, he will remain parry president till 2004 when his current five-year term as state president expires.

Pohamba, who is also minister for lands, resettlement and rehabilitation, said Nujoma wanted somebody to take over from him because he was getting old and the pressure was too much.

But Ignatius Shixuameni, the opposition Congress of Democrats MP, disagreed. "It is not a question of him getting old or being tired. It is time for him to go and the constitution says so. We only hope that Swapo will solve the successor issue in a good manner."

Shixuameni, a former Swapo politician, said Swapo had a lot of able people to take over from Nujoma. "There are certainly people who can succeed him. We hope the process will be democratic and nor based on tribal lines. We need people of quality," he said.

Joseph Kauandenge, secretary general of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance's Youth League, welcomed the announcement, saying it "was a mature and satisfying decision".

Now the race for Nujoma's mantle is on. As expected, the president has refused to talk about his successor, but already several names have been mentioned in Swapo circles, including the current prime minister Rage Geingob, and the trade and industry minister Hidipo Hamutenya.

Political analysts are already predicting that the successor could still be one of the Swapo old guards. "It will be a loyal person with a pair of safe hands and fairly well-established within the parry, says a lecturer at the University of Namibia. "I think a senior leader might rake over," he added.

According to the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), Nujoma's departure could herald the real transformation of Swapo from a liberation movement to a service-providing political organisation.

"We hope Nujoma's departure would effectively end the polities of fear and intolerance of different viewpoints in the country, for which he has been partially responsible," said a NSHR spokesperson.