Elders spew fire over SMSes

SMS users and callers to radio chat shows who criticise President Hifikepunye Pohamba and former President Sam Nujoma want to create chaos and anarchy in the country, the Swapo Party Elders’ Council claims.

They want The Namibian to stop publishing readers’ SMS messages, which they claim are insulting to the two leaders, while the Minister of Information was instructed to take measures to stop ‘dangerous radio programmes’ and chat shows ‘before the situation gets out of control’.SPEC secretary Kanana Hishoono alleged at a media briefing in Windhoek on Friday that The Namibian and NBC were permitting ‘vulgar language’.They claimed this has already caused discord in the nation and ‘very soon, if they go unchecked, will engulf the entire nation in turmoil’.’Those allowing these destructive programmes to continue will be guilty of unbecoming behaviour,’ Hishoono said.He wants SMSes to The Namibian to be oriented towards ‘peace, harmony and mutual understanding between individuals in society’.’These media should not allow themselves to be used to propagate hatred and promote public discontent, whose consequences will be too ghastly to contemplate,’ Hishoono charged.According to him, most messages were directed at Pohamba and Nujoma and thus ‘automatically insulted the entire Namibian nation’.’The Editor of The Namibian newspaper should be advised to stop using the paper as an instrument of inciting and insulting people and senseless attacks on the Swapo Party and its Government,’ Hishoono warned.He claimed that the SMSes and calls to the chat shows were geared towards stirring up hatred and anger.It is the second time in as many months that such sentiments have been expressed by Swapo leaders.In December the Swapo-dominated National Council passed a motion calling on the Ombudsman to investigate whether SMS users and callers to chat shows have abused their rights by ‘demonising’ the two leaders.The motion was tabled by Swapo MP and Deputy Chairperson of the National Council Margaret Mensah-Williams, who called for an independent investigation into whether the callers and contributors to The Namibian’s SMS page have not gone beyond their boundaries by personalising their attacks on the two statesmen.Mensah-Williams said the Council was not pleased with the tone and content of public criticism of Pohamba and Nujoma and felt they were too personal.The motion called on the Ombudsman to investigate SMSes published between December 1 and 5 by The Namibian and calls made to the ‘Chat Show’ and ‘Open Line’ programmes of NBC National Radio.The National Council was expected to write a letter to the Office of the Ombudsman to request the investigation. – christof@namibian.com.na