Type | Daily e-paper |
---|---|
Owner(s) | Paragon Investment Holding |
Editor | Kuvee Kangueehi |
Founded | 1978 |
Circulation | 45,000(as of 2009) |
Website | www |
The Windhoek Observer is an English-language Saturday weekly newspaper, published in Namibia by Paragon Investment Holding. It is the country's oldest and largest circulating paper. [1] As of 2009 [update] it had a circulation of 45,000 copies. [2]
The Windhoek Observer was founded in 1978 by Hannes Smith and Gwen Lister. [3] Lister was the political editor and wanted to give SWAPO, Namibia's liberation movement, "a 'human face', showing the people, including whites, that they were not the 'terrorists' and 'communists' and the 'black threat' that the colonial regime made them out to be through their blanket propaganda." [4]
The newspaper was officially banned in May 1984 after Lister travelled to Zambia to report on Namibian independence talks. Though the ban was lifted after an appeal to Pretoria's Publications Appeal Board, Observer management demoted her for having brought it on, triggering Lister's resignation and a walkout of the newspaper's staff. The following year, Lister began a new independent newspaper, The Namibian . [3]
Smith then ran the Windhoek Observer as a one-man operation, calling himself "reporter-in-chief". His daughter, Yanna Erasmus, later joined him at the newspaper. [1] Smith adopted a "hard-line editorial stance against those in authority" [1] and "did not bow to the South African nor the SWAPO government." [2]
After Smith's death in 2008, Erasmus took over as editor. [5] The following year, the newspaper was sold to Paragon Investment Holding, and Kuvee Kangueehi was appointed editor. [2]
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although it does not border Zimbabwe, less than 200 metres of the Botswanan right bank of the Zambezi River separates the two countries. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek.
Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma, is a Namibian revolutionary, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served three terms as the first President of Namibia, from 1990 to 2005. Nujoma was a founding member and the first president of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) in 1960. Prior to 1960, SWAPO was known as the Ovambo People's Organisation (OPO). He played an important role as leader of the national liberation movement in campaigning for Namibia's political independence from South African rule. He established the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) in 1962 and launched a guerrilla war against the apartheid government of South Africa in August 1966 at Omungulugwombashe, beginning after the United Nations withdrew the mandate for South Africa to govern the territory. Nujoma led SWAPO during the lengthy Namibian War of Independence, which lasted from 1966 to 1989.
Grootfontein is a town with 23,793 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of central Namibia. It is one of the three towns in the Otavi Triangle, situated on the B8 national road that leads from Otavi to the Caprivi Strip.
The Namibian is the largest daily newspaper in Namibia. It is published in English and Oshiwambo.
Jerry Lukiiko Ekandjo is a Namibian politician, former anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner. He is one of the founding members of the SWAPO Youth League and has been one of the most active internal leading members of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) during the liberation struggle. He spent eight years in prison on Robben Island after being charged for inciting violence in 1973.
Gwen Lister is a Namibian journalist, publisher, anti-apartheid and press freedom activist.
General elections were held in Namibia on 27–28 November 2009. They were the fourth general elections since independence and the fifth democratic elections. Voting ended on 28 November and official election results, released on 4 December, showed that Hifikepunye Pohamba and his SWAPO Party were re-elected, each with over 75% of the vote. Prior to the election, the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) was widely expected to score a landslide victory, with the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) considered SWAPO's biggest challenger. Fourteen political parties competed for seats in the National Assembly of Namibia, and twelve candidates ran for the presidency.
The following lists events that happened during 2008 in Namibia.
Johannes Martin "Hannes" Smith, affectionately known as Smithie, was a Namibian journalist, editor and publisher. He was first reporter at, then the editor of, the Windhoek Advertiser until 1978 when he and Gwen Lister founded the Windhoek Observer, the country's only Saturday paper at that time. He remained the owner and editor of the Observer until his death.
Kazenambo Kazenambo, commonly known as KK, was a Namibian politician. A member of SWAPO, Kazenambo was first elected to the 4th National Assembly of Namibia in 2005 and appointed deputy Minister of Local and Regional Government, Housing and Rural Development. In 2010 he was promoted to Minister of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture and served until 2012. He was a member of SWAPO's politburo.
The Old Location was an area segregated for Black residents of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. It was situated in the area between today's suburbs of Hochland Park and Pioneers Park.
Aaron Twapewa Johannes Mushimba was a Namibian businessperson. Described as a business mogul, Mushimba was involved with the trading of diamonds. He was linked to Belgian American diamond merchant Maurice Tempelsman. He was the chairperson of a Namibian investment group, PE Minerals, which holds the mining rights to the Rosh Pinah mine in Namibia's ǁKaras Region. He is the brother-in-law of Namibia's founding President Sam Nujoma.
Immanuel Hafeni Augustus Shifidi, born in Windhoek, was a Namibian activist. He was one of the fighters at Omugulugwombashe on 26 August 1966 when eight helicopters of the South African Defence Force attacked SWAPO guerrilla fighters at the camp. It was the first armed battle in the Namibian War of Independence.
Toivo Ndjebela is a Namibian journalist and the editor-in-chief of the Namibian Sun daily. He also worked as managing editor of the state-owned New Era newspaper.
Affirmative Repositioning (AR) is a leftist political movement in Namibia mainly focused on land reform, youth empowerment and social reform. Founded in 2014 by Job Amupanda, Dimbulukeni Nauyoma and George Kambala, the AR uses social media platforms to mobilise residents to apply for erven from municipalities. Due to thousands of youth submitting their forms on the same day, these activities have the character of mass demonstrations. The movement had, in a first round in November 2014, achieved a wave of individual land applications in Windhoek, Namibia's capital, which had since spread to other Namibian towns. The Affirmative Repositioning movement had threatened to take the land by force had the applications not have been processed and approved by July 2015 in the local municipalities.
Dimbulukeni 'Dee' Nauyoma is a Namibian youth activist who along with Job Amupanda and George Kambala co-founded a radical youth movement known as the Affirmative Repositioning in November 2014. Prior to the formation of the Affirmative Repositioning, he served in the SWAPO Youth League until 2014. From 2015 to 2018, he served as Secretary General of the Namibia National Students Organisation.
George Hidipo Hamba Kambala is a Namibian youth activist who along with Job Amupanda and Dimbulukeni Nauyoma co-founded a radical youth movement known as the Affirmative Repositioning in 2014 to advocate for land among Namibian youths. He also served in the SWAPO Youth League before his subsequent expulsion for his involvement in the youth movement.
General elections were held in Namibia on 27 November 2019. Ballots were cast using electronic voting. A total of eleven candidates ran for the presidency and fifteen political parties contested the National Assembly elections.
Panduleni Filemon Bango Itula is a Namibian politician, dentist, lawyer, and former Chief Dentist at the Katutura State Hospital, as well as a former SWAPO party school lecturer. He was an independent presidential candidate for the Presidency of Namibia in the 2019 Namibian general election and finished second after Hage Geingob. He is a founder and president of the Independent Patriots for Change in Namibia.