Media censorship by 'apartheid' law condemned
Media institutions have condemned the use of old apartheid laws to censor and silence the Namibian media and called on the government to immediately withdraw legal action taken against The Patriot newspaper.
This follows an urgent court application brought last Thursday by Namibia Central Intelligence Service (NCIS) director-general Philemon Malima against The Patriot newspaper and its editor, Mathias Haufiku, in a bid to stop the publication of a report about an association of former members of the NCIS as well as the purchase of certain properties.
The NCIS claimed that the publication of this report would contravene the 1982 Protection of Information Act and threatened or jeopardised national security. It further insisted that all information about the activities and assets of the NCIS must be kept secret.
To give the newspaper an opportunity to respond to the application, Judge Harald Geier postponed the hearing to this Friday. The newspaper has in the meantime withheld publication of the report pending the outcome of the High Court application.
The Patriot, represented by lawyer Norman Tjombe, filed notice that the newspaper would oppose the gagging order.
The chairperson of the Editors' Forum of Namibia (EFN), Joseph Ailonga, this week said the NCIS must immediately withdraw its court action against both the newspaper and Haufiku.
“Although the hearing was postponed until this Friday to give The Patriot an opportunity to respond to the application, the NCIS was successful in using the draconian 1982 Protection of Information Act in stopping the publication of the story,” said Ailonga.
According to the EFN this Act is unconstitutional as it violates the freedom of speech and the media, and it should been scrapped a long time ago.
“It is a shame that an apartheid law is still on Namibia's statute books and is being used by the current government to silence the media and to promote secrecy,” Ailonga said.
He said this action was against the very sentiments expressed by President Hage Geingob when he said at a World Press Freedom Day ceremony last year: “As long as I am given the mandate to lead this great country, freedom of the press is guaranteed.”
According to Ailonga, Geingob said at the same ceremony that the Namibian media formed part and parcel of the governance architecture, with the responsibility of ensuring that elected officials were held accountable and delivered on the promises they made, and that there was a need for Namibian media to become the freest in the world.
“Actions such as that of the NCIS stifle transparency and accountability in the name of national security,” he emphasised.
Ailonga added that these actions also went against Namibia's Harambee Prosperity Plan, which aspired to keep the country number one in Africa on the World Press Freedom Index as adjudicated by Reporters Without Borders.
The Namibia Media Trust (NMT) has also condemned the action by the NCIS to censor and silence the media.
The executive chairperson of NMT, Gwen Lister, agreed that the 1982 Protection of Information Act was unconstitutional as it violated both freedom of speech and media freedom, and should have been scrapped after independence.
“There are serious criminal penalties attached to this outdated law, which has a chilling effect on the work of journalists reporting freely in the public interest, and further flies in the face of our democratic constitution and its guarantees of freedom of speech and expression,” Lister said.
She said NMT unequivocally condemned the NCIS using the courts and a draconian law to censor the media and to stifle the public's right to access to information.
Lister said seen against the background of Geingob's Harambee plan, which promotes a more open and transparent regime, as well as ongoing efforts to enact an Access to Information law for Namibia, the action by NCIS to stifle media freedom was unacceptable.
“NMT calls on the government to speedily strike this oppressive law from our statute books along with any other that undermine the constitutionally entrenched rights to free speech and expression,” she said.
ELLANIE SMIT
This follows an urgent court application brought last Thursday by Namibia Central Intelligence Service (NCIS) director-general Philemon Malima against The Patriot newspaper and its editor, Mathias Haufiku, in a bid to stop the publication of a report about an association of former members of the NCIS as well as the purchase of certain properties.
The NCIS claimed that the publication of this report would contravene the 1982 Protection of Information Act and threatened or jeopardised national security. It further insisted that all information about the activities and assets of the NCIS must be kept secret.
To give the newspaper an opportunity to respond to the application, Judge Harald Geier postponed the hearing to this Friday. The newspaper has in the meantime withheld publication of the report pending the outcome of the High Court application.
The Patriot, represented by lawyer Norman Tjombe, filed notice that the newspaper would oppose the gagging order.
The chairperson of the Editors' Forum of Namibia (EFN), Joseph Ailonga, this week said the NCIS must immediately withdraw its court action against both the newspaper and Haufiku.
“Although the hearing was postponed until this Friday to give The Patriot an opportunity to respond to the application, the NCIS was successful in using the draconian 1982 Protection of Information Act in stopping the publication of the story,” said Ailonga.
According to the EFN this Act is unconstitutional as it violates the freedom of speech and the media, and it should been scrapped a long time ago.
“It is a shame that an apartheid law is still on Namibia's statute books and is being used by the current government to silence the media and to promote secrecy,” Ailonga said.
He said this action was against the very sentiments expressed by President Hage Geingob when he said at a World Press Freedom Day ceremony last year: “As long as I am given the mandate to lead this great country, freedom of the press is guaranteed.”
According to Ailonga, Geingob said at the same ceremony that the Namibian media formed part and parcel of the governance architecture, with the responsibility of ensuring that elected officials were held accountable and delivered on the promises they made, and that there was a need for Namibian media to become the freest in the world.
“Actions such as that of the NCIS stifle transparency and accountability in the name of national security,” he emphasised.
Ailonga added that these actions also went against Namibia's Harambee Prosperity Plan, which aspired to keep the country number one in Africa on the World Press Freedom Index as adjudicated by Reporters Without Borders.
The Namibia Media Trust (NMT) has also condemned the action by the NCIS to censor and silence the media.
The executive chairperson of NMT, Gwen Lister, agreed that the 1982 Protection of Information Act was unconstitutional as it violated both freedom of speech and media freedom, and should have been scrapped after independence.
“There are serious criminal penalties attached to this outdated law, which has a chilling effect on the work of journalists reporting freely in the public interest, and further flies in the face of our democratic constitution and its guarantees of freedom of speech and expression,” Lister said.
She said NMT unequivocally condemned the NCIS using the courts and a draconian law to censor the media and to stifle the public's right to access to information.
Lister said seen against the background of Geingob's Harambee plan, which promotes a more open and transparent regime, as well as ongoing efforts to enact an Access to Information law for Namibia, the action by NCIS to stifle media freedom was unacceptable.
“NMT calls on the government to speedily strike this oppressive law from our statute books along with any other that undermine the constitutionally entrenched rights to free speech and expression,” she said.
ELLANIE SMIT
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