The action was instituted following a report in The Namibian in 1993, subsequently carried by the NBC, relating to the assassination of political activist Anton Lubowski. Lubowski was gunned down in Windhoek in 1989, and to date his murderers have still not been brought to book. The settlement reached was contingent on a "clarification", as opposed to an apology, which was published in the paper. The "clarification", which was carried on page three of the newspaper, read in part: "In 1993 we reported that we had uncovered what lay behind the assassination of [South West African People's Organisation] Swapo activist, Anton Lubowski. We said that plans to do this were made by a number of high ranking members of the former SWA Police and Defence Force.
"We did so because we were given affidavits to this effect. Although we took a number of steps to check their authenticity, a High Court Judge in the inquest found, which we then reported, that the named individuals [the five plaintiffs] did not conspire to assassinate Anton Lubowski. We accept the correctness of that finding. In the same finding, the High Court stated that The Namibian had acted in the public interest in publishing these allegations." The "clarification" went on to note that the newspaper had acted in good faith in publishing the information and had done so without any malice towards the individuals concerned.
At the outset, the clarification also noted that The Namibian was committed to freedom of expression. It added that because of this commitment, it was led to expose, time and again, security force abuses under South African rule.
MISA
| |