Misa fires awards organiser

THE Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) has terminated its agreement with Namibia Strategic Business Communication (NSBC), the events organising company that had organised the Misa media awards for the past two years.

This follows the embarrassing conclusion to last year’s event, when many of the journalists called on stage that night to receive awards were afterwards informed that they did not in fact win in their said categories. The aftermath of the event, which saw prize cheques cancelled at banks, led to widespread allegations of “incompetence” and threats of boycotts against future award ceremonies by various media practitioners.Misa Chairperson Christof Maletsky yesterday announced that the organisation had completed its promised investigation into last year’s fiasco, and concluded that they had grounds upon which to terminate their agreement with NSBC owner Ferdinand Tjombe.”We based our decision on the breach of contract which occurred shortly after the winners of the awards were announced.According to a clause in our contract with NSBC, Misa Namibia was supposed to be consulted before any media statement was made or a crucial decision was taken about the awards.This did not happen, and it sadly put us in a compromising situation,” Maletsky said.He added that many of the winners on the night were informed at banks that their cheques had been cancelled, a situation which he said lead to embarrassment for not only them, but also for Misa and the sponsors of the event.According to Misa, Tjombe contacted newsrooms directly after the awards ceremony, informing them not to run articles on the botched show, with Misa National Governing Council members only finding out about this through the grapevine.Tjombe then allegedly disregarded requests by Misa to first meet with them before making any decisions on the prize money.He had the cheques cancelled before the scheduled meeting.The organisation vowed that this would not be the end of the Misa awards, and promised to continue the tradition later this year.”We believe that the awards are there to stay.We will do everything possible, using any means at our disposal, to continue with the awards,” Maletsky said.He said this year’s awards ceremony would be held in the second half of the year, and that Misa would soon call for bids from event organisers interested in staging the event.The organisation nevertheless thanked NSBC yesterday for organising its awards in the years past.Tjombe could not be reached for comment when contacted.The aftermath of the event, which saw prize cheques cancelled at banks, led to widespread allegations of “incompetence” and threats of boycotts against future award ceremonies by various media practitioners.Misa Chairperson Christof Maletsky yesterday announced that the organisation had completed its promised investigation into last year’s fiasco, and concluded that they had grounds upon which to terminate their agreement with NSBC owner Ferdinand Tjombe.”We based our decision on the breach of contract which occurred shortly after the winners of the awards were announced.According to a clause in our contract with NSBC, Misa Namibia was supposed to be consulted before any media statement was made or a crucial decision was taken about the awards.This did not happen, and it sadly put us in a compromising situation,” Maletsky said.He added that many of the winners on the night were informed at banks that their cheques had been cancelled, a situation which he said lead to embarrassment for not only them, but also for Misa and the sponsors of the event.According to Misa, Tjombe contacted newsrooms directly after the awards ceremony, informing them not to run articles on the botched show, with Misa National Governing Council members only finding out about this through the grapevine.Tjombe then allegedly disregarded requests by Misa to first meet with them before making any decisions on the prize money.He had the cheques cancelled before the scheduled meeting.The organisation vowed that this would not be the end of the Misa awards, and promised to continue the tradition later this year.”We believe that the awards are there to stay.We will do everything possible, using any means at our disposal, to continue with the awards,” Maletsky said.He said this year’s awards ceremony would be held in the second half of the year, and that Misa would soon call for bids from event organisers interested in staging the event.The organisation nevertheless thanked NSBC yesterday for organising its awards in the years past.Tjombe could not be reached for comment when contacted.