(MISA/IFEX) – The secretary of the North West District Council (NWDC), Paulos Nkoni, has threatened to sue the weekly, “The Ngami Times”, of Maun (north west of Botswana) for what he calls an article that seriously demeaned his reputation as a public officer and defamed his name. In a letter to “The Ngami Times” dated […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The secretary of the North West District Council (NWDC), Paulos Nkoni, has threatened to sue the weekly, “The Ngami Times”, of Maun (north west of Botswana) for what he calls an article that seriously demeaned his reputation as a public officer and defamed his name.
In a letter to “The Ngami Times” dated 11 September 2006, Nkoni referred to an article headlined: “Row over new road”, which was published in the 25 August – 1 September 2006 issue of the paper. Nkoni claims that he was aggrieved and defamed beyond repair by the article.
The letter quoted the last paragraph of the article which read, “The project has also caused the NWDC Secretary, Paulos Nkoni, to ban ‘The Ngami Times’ from obtaining any information from official sources as a result of a series of stories on the relocation of Mabudutsa ward residents. Nkoni accused the newspaper of being biased in its reporting.”
Nkoni has demanded an immediate retraction and unconditional apology on the front page within seven days from the date of the letter, before he can look into the issue of quantum payable, that is, the amount to be sought in damages. He added that if this is not done, he would commence appropriate legal process for damages in libel against the reporter and the editor.
The editor of “The Ngami Times”, Norman Chandler, told the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)-Botswana that he would not apologise to Nkoni as he (Nkoni) owes the media fraternity an apology for lashing out at them in May 2006 at the World Press Freedom Day commemoration in Maun where he claimed that the newspaper’s reporting was negative and later banned it from covering Council affairs (see IFEX alert of 23 May 2006).
Meanwhile, MISA Botswana has strongly condemned the threat by a public officer who has clearly indicated that he does not want media questioning him in his role as North West District Council Secretary.
MISA Botswana perceives this as a clear example of serious threat to media freedom and strongly condemns it. It further reiterates that people who hold public office should not consider themselves ‘sacred cows’, but should see themselves as servants of the people.
