(MISA/IFEX) – The secretary of the North West District Council (NWDC), Paulos Nkoni, says he intends to ban the weekly “The Ngami Times” of Maun (northwestern Botswana) from reporting anything about his Council “after being pressured by councilors and staff”. “The Ngami Times” Managing Editor Norman Chandler told MISA-Botswana that the looming ban was due […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The secretary of the North West District Council (NWDC), Paulos Nkoni, says he intends to ban the weekly “The Ngami Times” of Maun (northwestern Botswana) from reporting anything about his Council “after being pressured by councilors and staff”.
“The Ngami Times” Managing Editor Norman Chandler told MISA-Botswana that the looming ban was due to a belief that the newspaper was not supportive of development efforts in Maun.
Nkoni announced his intention at a World Press Freedom Day commemoration in Maun on 6 May 2006. He held aloft a copy of the newspaper and claimed its reporting on the relocation of residents from the run-down Mabudutsa ward to Matshwane, 10 kilometres away, showed it was “not positive”.
“‘The Ngami Times’ is not saying anything positive about what we are doing. We are trying to develop the area (Mabudutsa) and we are taking them (the residents) to a new area and need to encourage them.
“Maun was just bush at some stage. . . We are trying to turn Mabudutsa into a city. Officers and councilors are pressuring me to say ‘No’ to ‘The Ngami Times’, saying the newspaper is causing conflict,” Nkoni added.
However, Chandler has denied the allegation, saying that his newspaper cannot be accused of causing conflict or promoting negativity for merely reporting the views of residents who were angered at being relocated.
“If we are criticised and then banned from covering Council affairs because of our reporting, then transparency, press freedom and the right of people to voice their views is doomed, not only in Ngamiland but also throughout Botswana,” he said.
Chandler insisted that “The Ngami Times” supports development efforts in Maun and would continue to do so, as it has been in the forefront of the struggle for street lights, an end to the crime wave, tarred roads, the abolition of litter, and new sewerage lines, and it has backed the Council continuously in its bid to improve Maun.
When Gaolathe Dipholo, an official from the Local Government Service Management in Gaborone, was contacted for comment on whether the Council secretary had powers to ban media coverage on Council affairs, he promised to get back to MISA-Botswana as soon as he contacts Nkoni to hear the full story. To date, Dipholo has not contacted MISA-Botswana on the matter.
MISA-Botswana condemns the attitude of the Council employees and calls on the minister responsible for local government to take appropriate action against the Council secretary.
