Dr Pieter Henning, SC, on Thursday warned Hamata that he would ask that Hamata be imprisoned for refusing to reveal the identity of the sources that provided him with information for a report in which Shikongo featured in the September 21 2006 edition of Informanté.

The threat was made while Henning was cross-examining Hamata, who was giving evidence before Judge Louis Muller in a High Court case in which Shikongo is suing Hamata, the owner of Informanté, Trustco Group International, and the paper's printers, Free Press Printers, for N$300 000.

Hamata, when asked by Henning to disclose the identity of the unnamed sources who apparently provided the information on which Hamata's article was based, had told the Judge that he could not reveal the identity of his sources.

When Hamata returned to the witness stand on Friday, though, Henning announced to the Judge that he had instructions from Shikongo to tell the court that Shikongo "appreciates and respects the free press in the Namibian democracy".

Henning added that Shikongo "does not want to interfere with the practices of the free press", that he does not want Hamata to go to prison on the issue of his refusal to reveal his sources, but that he also "respects the integrity of the legal process" and would not interfere with this process as far as Hamata's failure to comply with a subpoena to disclose a recording of a phone conversation he had with one of his sources was concerned.

Hamata had also indicated on Thursday that he was not willing to provide that recording or a transcript of it to the court, despite having received a subpoena to do so around January 17 already.

By Friday morning, though, he had had second thoughts on that score at least, and a transcript of the conversation was belatedly handed over to Shikongo's lawyers and submitted to the court.

Shikongo's defamation action is based on a story published under the headline 'Fincky aids Broederbond's land cause' in the Informanté of September 21 2006.

The article was about a transaction in which Wanderers Sports Club sold a piece of land it had bought from the City of Windhoek in 1973 to a property developer, allegedly without the Windhoek City Council having been made aware that the City had a right to exercise a first option to buy the land if it was to be sold by Wanderers.

Quoting comments from reported unnamed "inside sources", Hamata wrote that these sources had said that Shikongo should have declared his association with Bank Windhoek, which financed the housing development taking place on the sold land, "instead of letting the underhanded deal go through without scrutiny".

Also quoting a similarly unnamed "concerned Council member", Hamata reported that this claimed source had questioned how the Mayor "could allow himself to be used for self-gain and to empower previously advantaged persons", and claimed that Shikongo was "just looking after his Bank Windhoek interests".

Hamata reported that Shikongo was a member of the Bank Windhoek board of directors.

In fact, at the time Shikongo was a member of the board of Capricorn Investment Holdings, the holding company of Bank Windhoek.

Shikongo says Hamata and the newspaper defamed him by stating things like that he was "connected to a Broederbond cartel" and had been involved in "an irregular land deal".

Shikongo said the story was understood to mean that he was dishonest, had abused his position as Mayor of Windhoek, neglected his duties to the public, and abused his supposed position as a board member of Bank Windhoek.

No comment from Shikongo was included in the article.

According to Hamata, he tried to phone Shikongo on his cellphone to get comment, but could not reach him.

He then wrote his story without comment from the Mayor.

He however did phone a source connected to Bank Windhoek to ask what board position Shikongo held at the bank, and was told - incorrectly, as it turned out - that Shikongo was a board member of the bank, instead of its holding company, the Judge heard.

According to the transcript of that conversation handed up to Judge Muller on Friday, Hamata referred to the Mayor in very unflattering terms as "the crook from Club Thriller" when he enquired about Shikongo's board position at the bank.

When Henning confronted Hamata with this statement, Hamata responded that he in the first place had not been willing to disclose a record of this conversation, but claimed that there had in any event been "reports about (Shikongo's) dealings" in the past as well.

At one point, Henning told Hamata that his article was indicative of "reckless, irresponsible, incompetent journalism".

Hamata responded: "I beg to differ on that.

It's the most responsible reporting, I think."

Hamata however conceded that nowhere in the document that he used to base most of his article on was there any mention either of Shikongo or of the Broederbond, the secret Afrikaner nationalist organisation that played a key role in setting up and maintaining the apartheid state in South Africa between 1948 and 1994.

To the end of his testimony Hamata maintained that when he used the word 'Broederbond' in his story and its headline, he actually meant it to be a reference to something like "a brotherhood" or "a bond of brothers that go together to enhance their interests exclusively", rather than it carrying any other connotations.

Why he then decided to use the heavily loaded Afrikaans word 'Broederbond', he did not explain.

The case has been postponed to continue on a date that still has to be arranged.

Hamata, Trustco and Free Press Printers are being represented by Kobus Snijmann, SC, from Pretoria.

Esi Schimming-Chase is appearing with Henning for Shikongo.

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