/ 21 July 2001

‘INTOLERABLE’ NUJOMA COMPLAINS ABOUT SABC

NAMIBIA’S Ministry of Foreign Affairs has lodged a complaint with the South African Broadcasting Monitoring and Complaints Unit after a television crew allegedly ”tricked” President Sam Nujoma into an interview, the Namibian reported on Wednesday. Foreign affairs permanent secretary, Mocks Shivute said in a statement that Nujoma granted the Special Assignment team an interview after they said they wanted to tell his story ”in an informal way by following him with our cameras through the course of the day”. However, what was broadcast on 5 June showed Nujoma as ”a furious, intolerable [sic] person”, while it focused on minority rights, especially those of homosexuals, the government official said. ”It is exactly because of such behaviour that African heads of state are not easily accessible to the media and why the media cry foul when they fail to secure appointments with leaders,” he added. – IRIN