A number of cases against the media were withdrawn after aggrieved parties realised that their cases might not stand up in court. Namibia’s founding President Sam Nujoma withdrew an N$5 million lawsuit against The Namibian newspaper. Another politician, Deputy Minister of Youth Pohamba Shifeta, won a libel case against the state-owned daily, New Era. He received only 10 per cent of the N$500,000 he claimed from the newspaper for alleged damage to his reputation. Judge Collins Parker ruled that one of the articles was indeed damaging to Shifeta’s reputation, but ordered the newspaper to pay Shifeta only N$50,000 for the defamation claimed. By claiming N$500,000, Shifeta “has set his eyes too high, without taking into account the economic reality of Namibia, as a developing country”, Judge Parker stated. Shifeta sued New Era’s Editor Rajah Munamava; its Chief Executive Officer Sylvester Black, the parastatal company owning the newspaper, New Era Corporation; reporter Kuvee Kangueehi, and Kangueehi’s alleged source for the stories. Journalist Werner Menges wrote in The Namibian: “The [Shifeta/New Era) judgement represents a landmark in the evolution of the law on defamation in a media context in Namibia. Judge Parker’s decision is the first in which a Namibian court has expressly declared that the legal doctrine of strict liability – in which the media was held strictly liable for the publication of any false defamatory allegations – should be discarded in favour of an approach focusing more on the constitutional right to free speech that has been the law in South Africa since 1998.” Broadcasting issues Competition from One Africa Television forced the NBC to switch their most popular programme, the 20h00 news bulletin, to 19h00. One Africa broadcasts its news bulletin at 19h30. The quality of NBC programmes remains poor and, overall, the content of the station is dull. The perilous state of the national broadcaster is the source of regular shocking articles in the print media. The management of the NBC also came into question with reports that the state broadcaster owes the revenue authority over N$250 million (approximately US$25 million) in unpaid taxes. Management issues also saw the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology attempting to get rid of NBC Board Chairman Ponhele ya France, as he was deemed too closely aligned to Director General (DG) Bob Kandetu. Both Kandetu and Ya France were alleged in media reports to be close to former SWAPO politician Hidipo Hamutenya, now opposition leader of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP). The NBC saga took another turn at the end of 2008, when an RDP flag was shown on the screen after President Hifikepunye Pohamba’s New Year’s message. At the time of writing this report an investigation was underway to establish whether the flag appeared by accident or whether it was deliberately inserted. After this incident the SWAPO Secretary for Information and Mobilisation called for the sacking of the NBC DG. [Note: Kandetu has since been fired from his post on allegations of mismanagement.] The appointment of the new Information and Communication Technology minister saw a flurry of activity at the state-owned media. Apart from the circus at the NBC, a new chairperson was appointed to the board of the joint-venture newspaper of Namibia and Zimbabwe, after the resignation of board chairman Vilbard Usiku. Shortly afterwards, acting chairperson Katrina Sikeni also resigned. Media diversity and ethics Media diversity remains a matter of concern in Namibia with the state remaining the largest media owner. By the end of 2008, the country’s biggest daily newspaper, The Namibian was offloading its shares in Free Press Printers, the joint venture with Trustco Group International, So This Is Democracy? 2008 -69- Media Institute of Southern Africa