TELEVISION personality Leonard Witbeen has been taken off air by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) following the recent circulation of pornographic video content in which he features.
The Namibian understands that Witbeen is expected to meet the corporation’s management tomorrow to discuss his future with the broadcaster.
Witbeen, who was an on-air news presenter and was previously on talk show Good Morning Namibia, appears in about five videos of this nature, which were posted to an online pornographic video site between 2018 and 2019.
The video, which was uploaded on 27 April, had been deleted from the site by this afternoon (Thursday). It had 16 963 views by the time it was deleted.
According to sources, NBC did not want to suspend him immediately for fear of a legal backlash.
“A decision was taken that for now at least, he would not be put on the schedule,” a source close to the matter confirmed.
NBC’s chief human resources officer Vezenga Kauraisa said management only recently became aware of the matter, and are launching an internal investigative process as prescribed by internal policies.
Kauraisa added that they will look into Witbeen’s contractual obligations before making any conclusive decisions.
“This matter also relates to employer-employee relations, hence the case will be dealt with with the required confidentiality,” he said. “Appropriate measures will be introduced, based on the outcome of the investigation and/or the facts at hand.”
Despite management’s comments, The Namibian understands that the decision to remove Witbeen was already made on Wednesday for allegedly putting the broadcaster’s name into disrepute.
Witbeen was not reachable on his phone, Facebook or text message for comment.
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