Judge orders retraction on agriculture tender article

A high court judge has ordered the company owning The Namibian to publish a retraction of an article about an inflated tender for the supply of goods to the agriculture ministry that appeared in the newspaper five years ago.

In an order given by judge Nate Ndauendapo, the court has directed The Free Press of Namibia, which is the company publishing The Namibian, to publish a retraction of an article about which a former chief veterinary officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, Milton Maseke, sued the company, the chief executive officer of the Namibia Water Corporation, Abraham Nehemia, and a former reporter of The Namibian, Sakeus Iikela.

Maseke alleged that Nehemia, the company and Iikela defamed him through the publication of an article under the headline ‘Faces behind inflated agriculture tender’ in The Namibian on 15 May 2018.

In the article, Iikela reported that a company which supplied items like spades, rakes, axes and jerrycans to the agriculture ministry belonged to a sister of Maseke’s ex-wife.

It was also reported that the company had charged inflated prices – such as N$1 700 for a rake that cost about N$300 at the time, and N$1 600 for a spade that normally cost less than N$500 – for the items supplied to the ministry.

In the article, Nehemia, who at that time was the acting permanent secretary in the agriculture ministry, was quoted as saying Maseke had been the official responsible for the awarding of the tender. Maseke filed a defamation claim against Nehemia in the High Court after the publication of the article.

That case was settled and in May 2019 an order recording that the matter had been settled and was finalised was issued in the High Court.

In August 2019, Maseke again started defamation proceedings in the High Court – this time targeting Nehemia, Iikela and The Free Press of Namibia. Maseke sued the three defendants for N$100 000. During the hearing of his case, Maseke told Ndauendapo he was not in Namibia when the tender in question was awarded and was not involved in the award.

He said the article affected his mental well-being and resulted in him resigning from the ministry after his working environment had deteriorated.

In his judgement, Ndauendapo found that the settlement agreement between Maseke and Nehemia in the previous case remained binding on both of them and that the settlement had been the end of the matter between them. The Free Press of Namibia and Iikela were not parties to the settlement agreement, and the court order stating that the previous case had been settled and was finalised was not binding on them, Ndauendapo said.

Considering the article, he said the article’s depiction of Maseke as one of the faces behind the inflated tender was not true. The article, which was published with a photo of Maseke, was defamatory of Maseke, Ndauendapo concluded.

He added that in his view a retraction and apology from The Free Press of Namibia would be an appropriate remedy for Maseke in the circumstances of the matter.

The company’s lawyers are in contact with Maseke’s legal representatives to finalise the matter, The Namibian’s editor, Tangeni Amupadhi, said yesterday.

Maseke was represented by lawyer Dirk Conradie.

Nehemia was represented by Kadhila Amoomo, and Elize Angula represented the company and Iikela.