STATE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA 2022 The pair were investigating the alleged illegal sale of pregnant wild elephants, which were purchased during a government auction by unknown groups from Dubai. Police are reported to have arrived at a roadblock where they took the duo to a police station for a four-hour detention after which their vehicle’s security system was disabled and its memory card seized. SURVEILLANCE AND PRIVACY OF ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS leadership structures. Women as sources of news and subjects continue to be sidelined. This is most visible when political discussions are taking place. Women are largely excluded from the serious conversations and are very rarely featured on political programmes. Some private media houses were seen to be unfair or inaccurate in their reporting, particularly on issues about women, leading to one-sided reports, character assassinations and voices being undermined in society. THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 While surveillance has not been an issue, Namibia introduced mandatory SIM card registration in 2022, requiring subscribers to re-register their SIM cards with their biometrics and digital IDs.(7) At one point, President Hage Geingob tried to use the pandemic to curtail access to information by initially using the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation as the only conduit of information. The government said SIM card registration was a national initiative aimed at facilitating the investigation of crimes committed with the aid of mobile devices. A case in point is how the initial COVID-19 state press briefings were deliberately restricted to the public broadcaster, the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation. It said there had been an increase in the use of digital and online services, providing opportunities for Namibians to embrace virtual teaching and learning, mobile banking, and online shopping. These briefings were opened up to other sectors of the media following objections from private media editors and journalists. Therefore, national safety and security agencies must be capacitated to ensure a safe digital environment, the government said. COVID-19 related restrictions impacted heavily on the operations of the media sector – resulting in huge losses of advertising revenue, which culminated in the closure of a number of print publications. GENDER AND THE MEDIA During the pandemic, salaries of staff, who had not been retrenched were cut and outlets have yet to restore wages to pre-COVID-19 levels. As is the case in most African countries, there is a large number of women journalists in the newsroom, but they are absent from the The severe reduction in advertising during and after COVID-19 restrictions is making it unsustainable for media to survive. References NAMIBIA: A MIXED BAG FOR THE MEDIA INDUSTRY (1) Namibia https://rsf.org/en/country/namibia (2) Namibia: Journalist shot by police during protest, https://www.ifj.org/media-centre/news/detail/category/africa/article/namibia-journalist-shot-by-police-during-protest (3) African Media Barometer report, Namibia 2022, https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/africa-media/19645-20221114.pdf (4) Namibia moves closer to access to information law https://misa.org/blog/namibia-moves-closer-to-access-to-information-law/ (5) AMB infographic – Namibia https://fesmedia-africa.fes.de/fileadmin/user_upload/images/infographics/AMB-Infographic-Namibia-2022.pdf (6) Namibia: Police confirm charging Grobler for trespassing https://www.africanelephantjournal.com/namibia-police-confirm-charging-grobler-for-trespassing/ (7) Mandatory SIM-ID link fever spreads as Namibia unveils registration dates, https://www.biometricupdate.com/202212/mandatory-sim-id-link-fever-spreads-as-namibia-unveils-registration-dates 56