THE Namibian Cabinet has decided to discontinue the regional weekly Southern Times. This was announced by minister of finance Iipumbu Shiimi during his mid-term budget speech last week.
This comes after Southern Times, a partnership between the Zimbabwean and Namibian governments, in 2019 announced it would close down at the time after 15 years of dwindling financial resources.
The paper has since been an online publication.
The Southern Times general manager, Gwen Snyders, did not respond to questions and text messages sent to her.
The executive director of information and communication technology, Mbeuta Ua-Ndjarakana, last week said the entity is run by a board of directors tasked with its winding up and related matters.
Meanwhile, minister of information and communication technology Peya Mushelenga said Southern Times had eight employees, four of whom were Namibian nationals.
He said the government as a shareholder has communicated the decision to close the publication to the board a long time ago.
Mushelenga said the government provided the publication a subsidy of N$5,5 million in the last financial year.
In the current financial year the government provided N$5 million.
“Southern Times was part of the NamZim Newspaper project between the Namibian and Zimbabwean governments, which has since been dissolved in 2019,” he said.
He said the reabsorption of employees are not relevant, since they were not seconded to Southern Times from an office or agency.
BACKGROUND
According to a memorandum of agreement signed by Zimpapers and New Era Publications Corporation on behalf of their respective governments in 2004, Zimbabwe would provide the newspaper with editors and offer other technical support, such as printing.
When sanctions were imposed on the Zimbabwean government, Namibia started bankrolling the publication for more than 10 years.
In 2015, Namibia spent more than N$60 million on Southern Times printing costs, salaries, and other expenses.
The only monetary contribution Zimbabwe has made was N$1,4 million in 2004 when the paper started operating.
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