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The year 2005 was historic as it marked the end of the 15-year rule by President Sam Nujomaand heralded a new administration under his successor, Hifikepunye Pohamba. The eventsleading up to the handover of power and the performance of President Pohamba’s administrationformed the substance of much of the political coverage.Media attention focused, among others, on whether the Pohamba administration would be oneof continuity or change, and the rift within the ruling party, after sacked Trade and IndustryMinister Hidipo Hamutenya, who challenged Pohamba for the presidency, and his supporterswere sidelined by Nujoma.Pohamba’s declaration of “zero tolerance” for corruption in his inaugural speech, raised thequestion as to whether he knew of the extent to which corruption had set in during the Nujomaadministration. As it was, much of the media coverage in 2005 focused on two major corruptioncases, which were exposed by the media.Media attacks on the increaseThe independent media came under fire from parliamentarians and extra-parliamentary groupsseveral times during the course of the year. The attacks were disconcerting as they demonstrateda lack of understanding of the role of the media in a democracy, 15 years after independence.Criticism of “white” owners bent on destabilising the government was a recurrent themein many of these attacks, while concerns were also raised about the media’s watchdog role andthe parliamentary privilege enjoyed by the media.The first swipe at the media came in February when the government lashed out at what it called“unethical, irresponsible and callous” journalistic practices. The accusation came after theAfrikaans daily Republikein published a reader’s letter critical of Nujoma. The letter was discussedat cabinet level, demonstrating the extent of intolerance to any criticism of the foundingpresident.The Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) saw this as an opportunity to continue waging a war ofwords against the independent media. SPYL Secretary Paulus Kapia accused The Namibian,Republikein and the weekly Windhoek Observer of being “enemies of peace and security inNamibia”. Kapia charged in his vitriolic attack that the three papers either lacked ethics orwere “deliberately fulfilling the agenda given to you by imperialists”.Using his position as Swapo Party president, Nujoma lambasted the Republikein and theWindhoek Observer in late November when they published stories which differed from hisversion of who was responsible for the deaths of several hundred People’s Liberation Army ofNamibia (PLAN) fighters in the first nine days of 1989. His often-repeated threat to “dealwith” his adversaries came after the debate around the debacle was reopened, following thediscovery of several mass graves in northern Namibia a few months earlier.Riding on the back of Nujoma’s attack on the three newspapers, SPYL Secretary for InformationElijah Ngurare charged in early December that press freedom abuse in Namibia had reachedintolerable levels. He also called on the government to enact laws to restrain those abusing thefreedom of the press.Despite the fact that Article 21 (1) (a) of the Namibian constitution explicitly guarantees mediafreedom, the media also came under fire from MPs in both houses of parliament.Minister without Portfolio Ngarituke Tjiriange raised the question of whether it was appropriatefor journalists to “monitor” MPs in the National Assembly in October. Swapo backbencherLoide Kasingo supported him, saying she felt “spied” upon by journalists.So This Is Democracy? 2005-88-Media Institute of Southern Africa