Opposition consider boycott, claim TV biased

Just weeks away from Namibia's parliamentary and presidential elections, two main opposition parties are considering boycotting the polls, accusing the public broadcaster of political bias. The Congress of Democrats (CoD) and Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) on Thursday alleged that the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) was awarding the ruling SWAPO party a disproportionate amount of television airtime. A third opposition party has taken court action to force the NBC to give equal coverage. "The NBC is actually a [President Sam] Nujoma Broadcasting Corporation and gives SWAPO too much exposure and coverage, but it is a public institution paid for by Namibian taxpayers," CoD vice president Nora Schimming-Chase said at a press conference. Sixty percent of free public service campaign coverage on radio and television is divided proportionally according to party representation in parliament. The remaining 40 percent should be shared equally by all nine political parties taking part in the 15 and 16 November elections. "We of CoD will seriously consider whether, under these circumstances, it will serve any purpose to participate in the elections that are fraught with inequalities," Schimming-Chase said. "All board members on the NBC are SWAPO members, although the NBC is funded by taxpayers from all different political parties. Why should CoD and DTA members pay their NBC licences [for it] to run an election campaign for SWAPO?" she added. "We have raised the issue with the NBC management and next Tuesday we will again have a meeting," said Schimming-Chase. The matter will also be brought before the Southern African Development Community Electoral Commission Forum. The DTA secretary general, McHenry Venaani, said pulling out of the elections would depend on the NBC's response to requests for more airtime. "The playing field must be level for all parties, but the NBC only shows election rallies of SWAPO at length. The DTA is the official opposition, but we get minimal coverage," he told IRIN. A minority party, the South West African National Union (SWANU), has instructed its lawyers to take legal action against the NBC. "SWANU only has 13 minutes' airtime during the election campaign and SWAPO over 200 minutes - that is unfair," SWANU president Rihupisa Kandanda complained during a panel discussion televised live on NBC this week. The proportional airtime principle is laid down in the Communications Commission Act, but the NBC is exempted from it. The NBC Act is silent on how much airtime should be allotted to political parties. "In the absence of legislation on this issue, the NBC, as a license holder, in its discretion decided to use the provision of the Communications Commission Act [only as a guideline]," the NBC communications general manager, Rector Mutelo, said in a press release on Friday. Namibia's opposition have complained over the airtime issue in all previous general elections since independence in 1990.