‘s editor, Tangeni Amupadhi, has defended the newspaper’s decision not to publish a review of a book written by a convicted child rapist.
He said the newspaper could not review a book that was based on defamatory accusations of corruption and malfeasance, which was not supported by facts.
Ex-prisoner and author Victor Angula’s appeal against the decision of media ombudsman John Nakuta in which he ruled in favour of the newspaper not publishing the book review, was heard yesterday.
According to Angula, Nakuta’s verdict was unsatisfactory and not based on factual information as his conclusions were based on The Namibian’s view only.
“The ombudsman did not go to greater lengths to make a final decision; he did not make an effort to seek my comment,” Angula said.
Amupadhi said editorial discretion and fairness were followed in not submitting to demands to publish the book review.
Among Angula’s accusations was that The Namibian was in cahoots with the judiciary and that it was trying to “cover up” and was compromised by the fact that some judges were instrumental in the newspaper.
“We have covered that story as it was determined in court,” Amupadhi said.
He said the newspaper is not linked to the judiciary as it has covered cases in which the courts have ruled against the publication.
Angula, who maintains he was falsely accused of rape, spent over a decade serving a prison sentence following his conviction. He alleged that “The Namibian and the judiciary are linked like a chain”, and that this was why the newspaper is uncomfortable with publishing a review of his book or interviewing him.
In his book, Angula claims to have been falsely accused of raping a seven-year-old girl in 1998. According to Angula, he sent an email to Amupadhi containing a quote he sourced from the ‘Rambler’ column in The Namibian that speaks of how Namibian news editors do not listen to ordinary citizens, but rather to big organisations.
The quote contained vulgar language that Angula said he considered not to be offensive as it was quoted directly from the ‘Rambler’column.”
If I acted inappropriately, Mr Amupadhi could have come to me and complained about this, but he did not do anything like that.
“If I acted inappropriately, then The Namibian also publishes inappropriate content,” he said.
Amupadhi said: “Beyond the emails, Mr Angula made several calls where he was putting unnecessary pressure on us.”
The appeal committee consists of André le Roux (chairperson), media panellist Joseph Sheefeni and public panellist Johannes Shikodi. Their ruling is expected by 9 April.
