1. Gwen Lister – The Namibian
As editor of The Namibian, the country’s biggest-selling newspaper, Gwen Lister is certainly
no stranger to Namibians. Her fierce support of the principle of press freedom in Namibia,
both before and after independence, and her determination to defend the public’s right to
know have never wavered, despite concerted efforts to silence her through harassment and
intimidation.
Gwen’s journalistic career began in 1975 at the Windhoek Advertiser. She left the paper in
protest against editorial interference and co-founded the Windhoek Observer with Hannes
Smith in 1978. As the Observer’s political editor, she was highly critical of South Africa’s
apartheid practices in Namibia, resulting in the newspaper being banned in 1984. Although
Gwen successfully appealed against the move, she was demoted by management for
damaging the newspaper’s reputation. After Gwen resigned over the matter, she felt
disheartened and depressed. “I thought that was really the end of any kind of alternative
newspaper in Namibia; that really the South Africans had pretty much managed to silence
everyone.” Yet she was determined not to give up and to tell the very stories that the
authorities wanted to keep off of the airwaves and out of the newspapers. So, in August of
1985, Gwen published the first edition of The Namibian.
Because the newspaper was called “The Namibian” in a country that was then South West
Africa, it was immediately targeted by the South African authorities and labelled as pro-
SWAPO. Political survival became the newspaper’s biggest challenge. Of course, Gwen was
no stranger to the South African regime’s intimidation tactics. From the very beginning of her
career, her life had been marked by constant threats, harassments and arrests. With the birth
of The Namibian, the harassment continued unabated. Gwen says, “the offices were fire-
bombed, staff were arrested and harassed, passports were withdrawn, the newspapers were
often confiscated by the South African military and advertisers were intimidated. The list
goes on.” About the many years of persecution, Gwen says, “I guess they thought being a
woman, that if they put the fear of God into me, I’d soon resign from journalism and go on
and do something else. But that didn’t happen because the more they targeted me, the more I
dug my heels in.” Was she ever scared? She answers that she wasn’t worried so much for her
own personal safety, but rather for that of her children. “You developed a kind of immunity
[against the fear]. It’s a very strange thing, but I suppose I kind of felt as though nothing
would happen to me. I was so completely convinced that I was doing the right thing that I
really didn’t look over my shoulder.”
Independence brought with it its own set of challenges. For one, donor funding ended and the
paper struggled for years to achieve financial sustainability. Furthermore, The Namibian soon
came under fire from the new government, as it was critical of the ruling party, reporting on
issues such as corruption and mismanagement. Subsequently, The Namibian was labelled as
anti-government. Yet Gwen maintains that this is not the case at all. “The Namibian merely
reports freely on what it sees. If there are issues to criticise, we do so, and when there is
reason to praise, we do so as well.” In 2001, the government put a ban on advertising in The
Namibian, and in 2002 prohibited the purchase of the paper with government funds. This
does, however, not appear to faze Gwen much. She cites her current biggest challenges as
ensuring that The Namibian continues to grow from strength to strength, and enhancing
quality reporting and new innovations for readers to ensure the print media still has a strong
future, even in the face of new media technologies.

2. Gwen has been internationally recognised for her role in journalism, receiving, amongst
others, an International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists in
1992, and a Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media
Foundation in 2004. She was named as one of the International Press Institute's 50 Heroes of
World Press Freedom in 2000. On The Namibian’s 15th
anniversary, Kofi Annan, then United
Nations Secretary General, said, “The Namibian worked courageously in difficult and often
dangerous conditions. Since then it has contributed immeasurably to press freedom and
nation-building in Namibia. Throughout it has maintained its integrity and independent
stance.”
Gwen says that her
passion and beliefs in what she does - the pursuit of truth to better inform
the people – have sustained her through all the difficult times. She is inspired by “the pursuit
of excellence” and “those who are able to put aside selfish concerns and work honestly and
hard for a better world”, principles she has undoubtedly lived her own life by. Suffice it to
say that Gwen is a woman who lives by her own advice: “Follow your passion and give it
your all!”
Tel: 061-279600 gwen@namibian.com.na