were not allowed to record anything. The team carried on doing their job and managed to get some public concerns. On April 27, 2007, One Africa played out the insert on their news bulletin, the News Editor received a phone call from a representative of the mining group, who asked that the material not be broadcast. When he was informed otherwise, he said that he would get the matter to their lawyers. Westport Resources Mining Group has informed One Africa Television that they will issue summons if they broadcast material gathered during a public meeting held by the organisation at the coast. • ALERT Date: April 30, 2007 Persons: Citizens of Namibia Violation: Other (censored) The minister for information and broadcasting announced that top management at the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), has taken the decision to change the format of the call-in programme on national radio. The statement comes ten months after the current NBC director general went on air shortly after being appointed to the office to call on listeners and phone-in callers to “act responsibly.” According to Information Minister Netumbo Nandi Ndaitwah, the decision of the NBC management is aimed to stop abuse by callers. Comments back in 2006 by Ndaitwah suggesting that the media and public were displaying a “lack of respect” for former president Dr. Sam Nujoma were met with great alarm. • ALERT Date: April 25, 2007 Persons: Gwen Lister, The Free Press of Namibia Violation: Legislation On April 25 2007, editor of The Namibian newspaper Gwen Lister, and The Free Press of Namibia, the company that owns and publishes “The Namibian”, were instructed to pay N$7 million (approximately US$1 million) to the Palazzolo family, or face legal action in the form of five defamation suits. In the summonses, signed by the Palazzolo family lawyer, Lucius Murorua, the plaintiffs claim that four members of the Palazzolo, alias Von Palace-Kolbatschenko, family were defamed through reports published in The Namibian in March, as well as in the free weekly newspaper Informanté. They are threatening to sue The Namibian especially in connection with a front-page story published under the headline “Mafia linked to Namibian gems” on March 23. In that story, freelance journalist John Grobler reported that the Sicilian mafia, by using front companies to buy existing but unused diamond buying, cutting and polishing licences in Namibia, had allegedly obtained an interest in Namibia’s fledgling diamond-cutting industry. The members of the family who are suing the newspaper include alleged mafia member and South Africa-based fugitive from Italian justice Vito Roberto Palazzolo, his brother Pietro Efisio Palazzolo, and two sons of Vito: Pietro and Christian Palazzolo. • ALERT Date: April 13, 2007 Persons: Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) employees Violation: Other On April 13 2007, employees of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), held a peaceful demonstration to show their dissatisfaction with working conditions and empty promises of salary increases. So This Is Democracy? 2007 -71- Media Institute of Southern Africa