Defending Press Freedom | Watchdog decries ‘wave of verbal attacks’ on journalists

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) yesterday condemned what it called “a wave of verbal attacks on journalists” by government officials in the run-up to Wednesday’s elections in Namibia and the state-owned Namibian Press Agency’s decision to suddenly cancel freelance journalist Vita Angula’s contract after he participated in a TV discussion about corruption.

RSF said that after Angula took part in a panel debate on the One Africa TV channel about the so-called “fishrot” scandal – concerning alleged “corruption” in the allocation of Namibia’s fishing quotas – the news agency said his participation in this “highly controversial” discussion had compromised its editorial stance and its reputation.

The press freedom watchdog noted that the scandal had dominated the campaign for this week’s presidential and national election.

“Fishing is Namibia’s second-largest industry, after mining, and documents provided by WikiLeaks to the country’s leading daily, The Namibian, and international media outlets indicate that ministers took bribes in exchange for granting access to Namibian fishing grounds,” RSF said, pointing out that two ministers have had to resign and one of them has been arrested.

“Other government officials have reacted by attacking the media. A few days ago, the president’s office issued a statement accusing journalists of trying to ‘tarnish’ the president’s image and waging a disinformation campaign with the aim of swaying voters.

“Previously, at the start of the month, trade minister Tjekero Tweya likened journalists to ‘flies’ who were ‘poisoning’ the population with false information.”

Said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk: “This series of attacks against journalists constitutes a major blow to the image of the country that has Africa’s highest ranking in the World Press Freedom Index. By covering corruption, journalists are just doing their job and acting as the allies of good governance. We call on the authorities to put a stop to these verbal attacks, which are undermining Namibian democracy. We also firmly condemn the Namibian Press Agency’s decision to sanction a journalist who just voiced an opinion, one that is moreover well supported by the facts.”

President Hage Geingob was seeking another term in Wednesday’s election, in which there were 10 other contenders. He was expected to succeed despite the fishrot scandal’s impact.

Namibia is ranked 23rd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2019 World Press Freedom Index.

Taken from rsf.org