The NBC Director General, Stanley Similo, has welcomed a delegation from Eswatini on a benchmarking mission, sharing insights into Namibia's evolving public broadcasting landscape.
Speaking during the briefing session, Similo talked about the complexity and responsibility of managing a public broadcaster in a dynamic sociopolitical environment.
"And the other thing is, from an nbc's perspective, we've been able to shed more light and share our experiences and our learnings in terms of how we've covered this whole thing. It's been quite a, what will you call it, type of journey. Very eventful, but at the same time very rewarding as well. Because normally when you take on things that are new, you sometimes stumble on the things that you didn't think about. Despite the fact that others would have given you some information that you could look at benchmarks with. But what we have found is that within the respective countries, there are many things that detail how public broadcasting is multidimensional and put together."
Similo said that each country's public broadcasting experience is shaped by unique cultural, linguistic, religious, and political dynamics.
He stated that at a public entity, everyone wants a voice in how things are done.
One of the biggest challenges, according to Similo, is the politics of data—the struggle to balance serving the public interest while navigating various pressures.
"And the biggest of all is the politics of data. So you, as a public broadcaster, need to endlessly jostle between trying to make sure that you do the best that you can. But in the main, you're broadcasting for a public. And that voice must also not be suppressed. It must be heard. As you know from an nbc perspective, we have been one of the top three at all material times. It's not number one yet for press freedom. But it's also a target that is extremely difficult to maintain. Sometimes there are issues of legislation that might stand in the way. Because we know that two or three years back, we were penalized because our communications apps were not fully operationalized. Once that came into being, I think we went back to playing the number one spot. But it's always a moving target. And it has to do with how you need to do things."
The Director General also acknowledged the importance of public accountability, especially since nbc is primarily funded through state resources.
A senior information officer at the Ministry of Information, Communications, and Technology in the Kingdom of Eswatini, Bongani Mkhaliphi, expressed optimism about the future of the partnership.
"We believe that the standing relationship, as you have mentioned, will go a step further from today. After the learning we will be getting from here, we hope that in the future, you too will be able to take note of what we have achieved as a result of what we learned from nbc. Thank you."