Fool me once …

NAMIBIAN media had more than a few people befuddled with their ‘fibs’ this April Fool’s Day.

Almost the entire front page of The Namibian appeared like a joke to suspicious minds – what with unusual articles on money stuffed into underpants, a paper shortage at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which deals exclusively in paper-based applications and a new dress code for journalists.As it turns out, the only ‘fib’ was the new Ministry of Information dress code for journalists and a threatened ‘nude protest’ against it – and even some of our own newsroom staff fell for it.At the newspaper’s daily diary meeting, one male journalist was fuming about the threat to his beloved ponytail while a jeans-clad female colleague swore she would ‘never wear high heels and dresses’. The report was not entirely off point, though, as journalists have been turned away from functions at State House for wearing jeans. NBC television reported on its morning programme that it had a new board Chairperson in The Namibian’s Gwen Lister, with Swapo Youth League Secretary General Elijah Ngurare as the new NBC Director General.Republikein merged two eras of Namibian history by superimposing the statue of the liberation fighter from Heroes’ Acre onto the controversial Reiterdenkmal, thus killing two ideological birds with one stone. It announced that a fibreglass replica of the freedom fighter – resembling former President Sam Nujoma – would be mounted on the plinth of the equestrian statue yesterday morning, while the bronze German cavalry officer would be moved to the Parliament gardens as a symbol of reconciliation.Allgemeine Zeitung took the increasing Chinese influence in Namibia to its logical conclusion by stating that from Sunday onwards all Namibian street signs would be in both Chinese and English.It also reported on the building of a Chinese private school and academy where Oriental values like hard work and punctuality would be taught. Supposedly there would also be a course on getting around labour laws. Apparently the AZ’s office was inundated with angry calls about the street renaming, with people complaining that the Government had gone too far. New Era introduced a new tax regime as its April Fool’s joke, claiming that deputy directors, directors and permanent secretaries would get tax relief to the tune of N$8 000 for car, home and farm loans.Some questioned whether this was indeed a joke or closer to the truth than intended.Some international April Fool’s jokes included Expedia Travel offering flights to Mars for US$99 and Fox News adopting a Malawian child to be ‘as cool as Madonna’. One of the best April Fool’s jokes ever – as chosen by Internet users – was the so-called Swedish Spaghetti Harvest. In 1957, the respected BBC news show ‘Panorama’ announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied, ‘place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best’.