{"id":24681,"date":"2022-07-12T11:48:29","date_gmt":"2022-07-12T11:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/nakuta-sim-registration-regressive"},"modified":"2022-07-12T12:04:29","modified_gmt":"2022-07-12T12:04:29","slug":"nakuta-sim-registration-regressive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/nakuta-sim-registration-regressive","title":{"rendered":"Nakuta: SIM registration regressive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Media ombudsman John Nakuta has lambasted the mandatory SIM card registration by the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia, branding it retrogressive in the anti-graft fight, as it will leave whistleblowers exposed.<\/p>\n

Nakuta called on the national anti-graft body \u2013 the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and key stakeholders \u2013 to sit around the table in earnest to iron out issues arising from the registration of SIM cards.<\/p>\n

In Nakuta\u2019s eyes, it defeats logic to have the Whistleblowers Act, albeit in its dormancy on one hand and compulsory registration of SIM cards on the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cLawmakers do not seem to appreciate the role of the media in fighting corruption. Look at what CRAN is doing now with the registration of SIM cards and the whistleblower law on the other side. There is no synergy,\u201d Nakuta said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho would want to blow the whistle if your identity is known \u2013 when somebody is listening to your conversations? These are conflicts of roles and one hand doesn\u2019t know what the other hand is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The media ombudsman pointed to complex cases, such as the Fishrot scandal \u2013 in which State resources were stolen at an industrial scale and the State capture in neighbouring South Africa \u2013 as some classic examples of why the identities of whistleblowers and investigative journalists must be protected. \u201cThe media is key in fighting corruption. The Fishrot case and the arrest of two ministers (Sacky Shanghala and Bernhard Esau) came as a result of investigative journalism and whistleblowing. If you look at how the Zondo commission started, there are traces of the media,\u201d he said. Nakuta was speaking at the commemoration of Africa\u2019s Anti-corruption Day, which aims to prevent and combat corruption as envisioned by Agenda 2063.<\/p>\n

The theme of this year\u2019s event is \u2018Strategies and Mechanisms for the Transparent Management of Covid-19 Funds\u2019.<\/p>\n

CRAN, however, has on numerous occasions defended its stance to register and verify all active SIM card owners.<\/p>\n

The authority has since gone on a national awareness drive to ensure the gospel is heard across Namibia\u2019s length and breadth.<\/p>\n

\u201cOperators will have a period of 12 months to conclude the registration of existing customers. The information of new customers must be registered within three months from the date of sale. Unregistered SIM cards will be deactivated,\u201d CRAN\u2019s CEO Emilia Nghikembua was recently quoted.<\/p>\n

Cran\u2019s position is informed by best global practices. According to CRAN, the registration is used to address antisocial behaviour, provide age verification and assist in addressing mobile fraud.<\/p>\n

It is also a tool that eases and enables digital surveillance and interception as part of investigations of offences.<\/p>\n

NAMPU<\/b><\/p>\n

Another panellist on the day was veteran journalist and deputy secretary general of the Namibia Media Professionals Union (NAMPU) Jemima Beukes.<\/p>\n

While going a step further, Beukes echoed Nakuta\u2019s sentiments.<\/p>\n

She said NAMPU\u2019s registration with the labour commissioner is cumbersome and affects the work of journalists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe union applied for registration in 2020. But since then, it has been a back-and-forth process, where our constitution is being sent back because of simple punctuation marks and not substance. This affects the work of journalists in fighting corruption because, without a registered union, they are on their own,\u201d said the unionist-cum-journalist.<\/p>\n

Beukes added the access to information law that has been in the making for over half-a-decade now is long overdue.<\/p>\n

Censorship<\/b><\/p>\n

Adding his voice to the debate, Hugh<\/p>\n

Ellis, a media professor at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) lamented the censorship of the media as a key impediment in fighting corruption. \u201cHow far can the State-owned media go?\u201d he questioned.<\/p>\n

Ellis called for more independent media institutions. NAMPU, he said, can play a vital role as a union to protect media independence.<\/p>\n

He also accused big corporations of censoring media houses that rely heavily on them for funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us look at diverse funding models as opposed to traditional advertising,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cState-funded media institutions suffer from self-censorship, and it reflects badly on the media,\u201d Nakuta said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, political analyst and Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) executive director Graham Hopwood said they play a crucial watchdog to combat<\/p>\n

corruption. But they are under-resourced and under-capacitated. \u201cWe simply don\u2019t have the resources,\u201d he said, adding there is no grassroots level work by civil society organisations, while many are now either dormant or defunct.<\/p>\n

IPPR is in the process of establishing an anti-corruption arm, Integrity Namibia.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. Media ombudsman John Nakuta has lambasted the mandatory SIM card registration by the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia, branding it retrogressive in the anti-graft fight, as it will leave whistleblowers exposed. Nakuta called on the national anti-graft body \u2013 the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and key stakeholders \u2013 to sit around the table […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":24680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-24681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nNakuta: SIM registration regressive - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Media ombudsman John Nakuta has lambasted the mandatory SIM card registration by the Communications Regulatory Authority ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/nakuta-sim-registration-regressive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nakuta: SIM registration regressive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Media ombudsman John Nakuta has lambasted the mandatory SIM card registration by the Communications Regulatory Authority ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/nakuta-sim-registration-regressive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-12T11:48:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-12T12:04:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_3-62cd63377e7a6.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"470\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/nakuta-sim-registration-regressive#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/nakuta-sim-registration-regressive\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Nakuta: SIM registration regressive\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-12T11:48:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-12T12:04:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/nakuta-sim-registration-regressive\"},\"wordCount\":749,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/nakuta-sim-registration-regressive#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_3-62cd63377e7a6.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/nakuta-sim-registration-regressive#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/nakuta-sim-registration-regressive\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/nakuta-sim-registration-regressive\",\"name\":\"Nakuta: SIM registration regressive - 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