T he year 2007 was a year when the adage the more things change the more they stay the same would be apt for Namibia. Former Namibian President Sam Nujoma handed the leadership of the Swapo Party to his deputy, State President Hifikepunye Pohamba. The long anticipated schism in the ruling party finally occurred towards the end of the year with the formation of a new political party, the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP). Former Swapo Minister Hidipo Hamutenya, and numerous other former Swapo stalwarts, resigned from the ruling party to form the RDP. The move follows Hamutenya’s unsuccessful and acrimonious bid for the Swapo Presidency at the party’s 2004 extraordinary congress. It is also the year when control of the airwaves once again became a subject of political contention, to the extent that the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) tried to curb and manipulate the freedom of expression of people on their call-in programmes on several occasions. Callers to one popular call-in programme were ordered not to discuss politics on-air shortly before the Swapo congress late in the year. The programme was taken off the air. However, just a week later the NBC made an embarrassing u-turn and reinstated the programme. This was done on the same day when a commercial station announced that it would be launching a similar programme. The NBC rapped two of its staff members over the knuckles for unilaterally banning specific topics. This invoked the wrath of the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL), which demanded the firing of NBC management. The year came to a close with the SPYL and some politicians calling for media freedoms to be curbed for criticising political leaders. In fact the Swapo congress at the end of the year resolved that a state-controlled media council should be established. Future generations of journalists will have to blame the current crop of media workers should this occur. The much criticized apathy of Namibian journalists and their unwillingness or inability to make a positive contribution to the advancement of the profession has once again become deeply worrying. No meaningful debate of issues regarding the media exists and there is wanton disregard for ethics. The code of ethics is still unrecognised and an independent media council remains a distant dream. Namibia, also still does not have a media ombudsman. “Hostile media” In numerous attacks throughout the year, the media have been labelled “hostile, unhealthy and unpatriotic, eurocentric, divisive, reactionary and enemies of the state”, by an array of ruling party office bearers. Swapo Chief whip in the National Council Jhonny Hakaye tabled a motion in August in which the National Council was asked to examine and review the status of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) as well as media institutions that gave the organisation coverage. This was because the NSHR had requested the International Criminal Court of Justice (ICC) at The Hague in the Netherlands to investigate alleged crimes against humanity committed by former President Sam Nujoma and three others during and after the era of the liberation struggle. The submission contributed to the further deterioration in media-government relations. Hakaye said, “The Windhoek Observer was using the freedom of speech granted to it to tarnish the names and characters of political leaders while The Namibian seems to have provided for their own parliament through the ‘SMS page’ they have created. “This only provides for hooliganism. Any person, regardless of their age, can just say what So This Is Democracy? 2007 -64- Media Institute of Southern Africa