SECTOR 2 2.5 Adequate competition legislation/regulation seeks to prevent media concentration and monopolies. The Communications Act (2009) makes provision for anti-competitive practices in Chapter IV, and deals with cross media ownership in the issuing of broadcasting licenses under Section 85 (8): When considering an application for the issue of a broadcasting license, the Authority must have regard to … (c) the desirability or otherwise of allowing any person or associated persons to have control of or an substantial interest in – (i) more than one broadcasting or transmission service; (ii) more than one radio station and one television station [or] a combination of television and radio channels and registered newspapers with a common circulation in Namibia. In practice however, concentration of ownership exists. Namibia Media Holdings (NMH) formerly known as Democratic Media Holdings (DMH) owns printing facilities (Newsprint Namibia), 3 daily newspapers (The Allgemeine Zeitung, Republikein, The Namibian Sun), and some weeklies and monthlies (Erongo, Windhoek Express, Ewi lyaNooli). They sold their shares in the radio station 99 FM in 2012. In the same year Namibian company Stimulus Investments acquired a 50% share in DMH. DMH changed its name to NMH in 2014. Now First Lady Monica Geingos (then Monica Kalondo) is a shareholder and the Managing Director of Stimulus, and at the time, became Chairperson of the Board of NMH. She stepped down as Board Chairperson shortly before marrying then Prime Minister (now President) Hage Geingob. “There is a monopoly from the printing side,” said one panellist, as NMH owns Newsprint Namibia and can therefore prioritise the printing of their own publications. That has an effect on how late or early other papers have to hand in their paper for printing, which becomes a problem when there is urgent breaking news. Furthermore, one panellist remarked, “the printing mafia can dictate the price”. The Namibia Media Trust, which owns the Free Press of Namibia, which in turn owns The Namibian newspaper, recently set up its own printing press – WordPress - with one other shareholder – local businessman Wolfram Jauss. WordPress currently prints The Namibian and Confidente newspapers. 34 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2015