• ALERT Date: June 3, 2008 Person/institutions: Informanté newspaper Violation/issue: Banned MISA Namibia noted with concern complaints by Informanté that the organisers of the Miss Namibia beauty pageant had refused to grant the tabloid’s journalists entry to the pageant for coverage. According to Informanté reporter Elvis Mboya the organiser of the annual Miss Namibia pageant, Connie Maritz,made it “categorically clear that Informanté will not cover this year’s event”. Mboya said Maritz singled out the weekly tabloid because of what the “negative publicity” the event has received in the paper’s reports. Meanwhile, in a telephonic interview with MISA Namibia, Maritz emphasised: “I did not invite the Informanté to the event and I will not allow any interviews to be conducted with any Informanté reporters. Any and all the reports done by Informanté on the pageant and events around the pageant have been incorrect, unethical and untrue! For that reason, they have not been invited.” National Director of MISA Namibia Mathew Haikali said the incident cannot be described as anything other than discriminatory as well as a violation of freedom of expression and freedom of speech. • COMMUNIQUÉ Date: June 20, 2008 Person/institutions: Communications industry Violation/issue: Other Following the move by the government of Namibia to scrap value added tax (VAT) of 15 per cent on food imports, MISA Namibia took the opportunity to urge the government to further extend the scrapping of VAT on mobile prepaid services that was imposed in February 2008. “Access to communication, like food, is a basic and fundamental human right,” said MISA Namibia Director Mathew Haikali. MISA Namibia said the imposition of VAT on telecommunications services, however, places further obstacles to universal access to communication and is clearly not in the spirit of Vision 2030, the SADC ICT Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals. “The extra cost of telecommunications services is no doubt most felt by the poor and other marginalised sections of society, who are already struggling to make ends meet due to the escalating cost of living in Namibia,” said Haikali. • ALERT Date: July 23, 2008 Person/institutions: Media/Namibian Polytechnic Violation/issue: Banned/policy MISA Namibia came out strongly against the decision by the Polytechnic of Namibia to make its premises off-limits to journalists covering student events. According a news story in the New Era of July 23, 2008, titled “Journalists barred from Polytechnic”, journalists cannot enter the insitution’s premises unless authorised by the Rector or the Vice Rector. The National Director of MISA Namibia expressed disappointment at the decision taken by the Polytechnic. New Era journalist and author of the story in question, Desie Heita, said he had experienced difficulties when trying to gain access to the Polytechnic premises to write a story on student matters. Heita explained he was ordered not to enter the premises at all because of the nature of his profession. • ALERT Date: July 23, 2008 Person/institutions: Informanté newspaper Violation/issue: Banned MISA Namibian expressed concern over a letter from law firm Dr Weder, Kauta & Hoveka Inc stating that all Informanté journalists are banned from the Masquerade nightclub in the So This Is Democracy? 2008 -75- Media Institute of Southern Africa