A 25-Year Milestone
By: GWEN LISTER
AUGUST 30 marks a 25-year milestone in the history of The Namibian. Since our founding on this date in 1985, we have survived the tumultuous apartheid era, the country's transition to Independence, the newspaper's own fight for financial self-sufficiency, and the two decades since then.
We have also grown to become the biggest selling daily newspaper in Namibia.
And while there have been those who have questioned the credentials of the newspaper, many giving credit for our pre-independence role but not thereafter, we remain proud of our achievements.
As we started out 25 years ago, our aims included promoting the implementation of the United Nations settlement plan for Namibia, which would allow self-determination and independence and also to expose the atrocities against our people under apartheid rule.
We believe that throughout our coverage of the war years, we did bring international attention to the plight of Namibians under apartheid inside the country, and we hope that this in turn helped facilitate our UN-supervised elections, culminating in Independence in 1990.
Our role changed after Independence. Still fiercely independent, The Namibian, like our country and new Government, faced challenges different to those from the struggle years.
Independence, we believed, was not only an end in itself, but also a means to enable Namibians to finally have the opportunity to be the architects of their own destiny.
Most importantly, while political independence had been achieved, the focus now needed to fall on the huge social and economic challenges that lay ahead.
The Namibian always believed that the country as a whole, and all in it, whether business, individual, politician or plumber, had a role to play in order to build and to develop Namibia to the benefit of its people, particularly the disadvantaged sections of our society.
We maintain that independent journalism is the lifeblood of a democracy. It does not always earn us popularity, but it hopefully engenders the respect of those who truly have the interests of our country and people at heart.
The future brings challenges for all Namibians, including this newspaper. And we must be ready and able to those challenges as they occur.
This means that as we move forward into what will hopefully be another 25 years at least, we will need to continue to adapt to change.
Change as the newspaper finalises its structure in the months ahead and develops new leadership. Change as the newspaper has to face new competitors on the market, and reinvents itself with renewed emphasis on quality and depth of reporting and new innovations and additions to what we already offer our readers.
Fiercely loyal to Namibia and our people, The Namibian believes in putting back into the community that has supported it for the past quarter of a century. This ethos will continue into the future, and by now our The Namibian Newspaper Cup, promoting football at grassroots level, and our Youthpaper, among others, have become household names.
On this auspicious anniversary, and in keeping with this spirit of putting back, some of our staff have worked long and hard hours to compile the magazine which readers will find in this copy of the newspaper. It is our gift to those who have supported us and we hope that it will provide reading pleasure to all.
The Namibian, however controversial it has been or may be in the future, must also make a solid contribution to this country, and we believe the way in which to do it is to keep people informed to the best of our ability.
We are reminded of the historic words of African freedom fighter, Amilcar Cabral (1924-1973):
“Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories. ... Our experience has shown us that in the general framework of daily struggle, this battle against ourselves, this struggle against our own weaknesses ... is the most difficult of all.”
Despite setbacks, this newspaper will continue to face the future with confidence and with hope to realise the dream of a nation fulfilled.
Thanks to everyone for the support which has made our continued existence possible.