(MISA/IFEX) – Namibia’s Acting Permanent Secretary of Information and Broadcasting, Sankwasa James Sankwasa, has denied suspending a reporter from the “New Era” newspaper as recently reported. Sankwasa told MISA that the decision to suspend Fred Simasiku was taken by the newspaper’s editorial committee, which is made up of the editor and other key personnel at […]
(MISA/IFEX) – Namibia’s Acting Permanent Secretary of Information and
Broadcasting,
Sankwasa James Sankwasa, has denied suspending a reporter from the “New Era”
newspaper as recently reported. Sankwasa told MISA that the decision to
suspend Fred Simasiku was taken by the newspaper’s editorial committee,
which is made up of the editor and other key personnel at the newspaper.
Sankwasa also denied ever having instituted a defamation suit against the
“New Era” as a result of an article penned by Simasiku.
**Updates IFEX alert of 16 October 1998**
Simasiku, who is an information officer in the Katima Mulilo offices of the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, was suspended from reporting for
the “New Era” earlier this month following an article which appeared in the
24 August 1998 edition of the paper. The article reported on an accusation
by Victor Muituti, who claimed that Sankwasa had been aware of the
secessionist plans in Namibia’s Caprivi region.
The chief sub-editor of “New Era”, David Kasheka, also a member of the
editorial committee, confirmed to MISA that the committee had taken the
decision to suspend Simasiku and that Sankwasa was merely instructed to
inform Simasiku of this suspension. He confirmed too that Simasiku had been
suspended only from reporting for the “New Era” and that he was still
employed in his capacity as an information officer for the ministry.
Kasheka told MISA that the editorial committee had instituted an
investigation into the article after Muituti, the quoted source in the
article, distanced himself from the quote, while Sankwasa, who was also
quoted in the article, denied having spoken to the journalist. Kasheka said
that Simasiku had been suspended from filing stories for the “New Era”
pending the investigation, and that he had been requested to respond to the
various allegations but to date, they had not received any response from
him.
Simasiku, when contacted by MISA, declined to comment on the matter, saying
it was in the hands of his lawyers. He denied however that he had been asked
to respond to the allegations, and said instead that he had made a statement
to the acting editor of “New Era”, Kae Matundu Tjiparuro.
