Speaking from Durban, South Africa, she told VOA, “Media freedom is about the public’s right to know – and we have seen delays with in Namibia, and that’s problematical.” ”The Access to Information Act has still not been approved,” said Angela Quintal, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Africa director.
The measure would better enable journalists to probe government records and actions. It said the information minister resubmitted the bill with the intent of improving public access and government accountability.
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She noted, “Occasionally, you’ll find that some strained ministers or other public officials will threaten something like social media regulation or talk about hate speech online or regulating media freedoms, but that is nipped in the bud very quickly.”Ī bill promoting “the public’s free access to information held by public entities” was reintroduced last fall to Namibia’s National Assembly, but COVID-19 lockdowns impeded parliamentary debate, The Namibian reported. ”Colonialism and apartheid denied us the right to freedom of expression for so long, and so now that we have that right, we guard it very diligently,” Titus said. Earlier, Namibia had been a colony of Germany, which last year officially acknowledged it committed genocide against ethnic Herero and Nama early in the 20th century. Namibia gained its independence from South Africa in 1990 following years of bloodshed in the apartheid era. Namibia’s stance on media freedom can be attributed to the country’s “very violent history,” said Zoe Titus, director of the Namibia Media Trust, which publishes The Namibian newspaper and also promotes free speech and information access within and beyond the country’s borders. He added, “Generally, it is quite safe to be a journalist in Namibia.”
Namibia’s judiciary is “very protective” of media freedoms, something that is “quite rare” elsewhere in Africa, said Arnaud Froger, head of RSF’s Africa desk. At the very bottom is Eritrea, considered the least free not only in Africa but also among all 180 countries in the ranking. On the positive side is the southwest African nation of Namibia, ranked the continent’s most free country and 24th worldwide in an annual index by the Paris-based organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF). As the world marks World Press Freedom Day on Tuesday, here’s a look at the brightest and darkest situations for the continent’s news media. Across Africa, laws and customs respecting the media vary considerably.