KEETMANSHOOP – Governor of the //Karas Region Bernadus Swartbooi has commended the New Era Publication Corporation (NEPC) for ensuring that half the stories carried in its newspapers are about events happening in the regions.
This policy, he said, will motivate regional leaders to start working even harder, because with them in the limelight they will be forced to become more productive. He is also confident that this will improve service delivery in the regions and motivate such leaders to introduce innovative ways of local development and not simply to go with the programmes stipulated by the central government. “When the focus is placed on the regions the leaders will see the successes of others and will be forced to initiate uplifting programmes,” he said to the Chief Executive Officer of New Era Publications, Dr Audrin Mathe, who paid him a courtesy visit earlier this week in Keetmanshoop. Mathe visited the southern regions to share his vision and his plans for the NEPC with various political and senior public officials and others and to appraise them of the new direction of the corporation.
“[NEPC] strives for 48 percent regional coverage [in New Era newspaper], Namibia is not Windhoek it is Noordoewer, Keetmanshoop, Berseba and so much more. And it is therefore important for the newspapers not to assume they know what their readers want, but to get readers’ inputs as well,” Mathe said. Swartbooi highlighted a number of issues in the region that deserve in-depth coverage. These include land management, resettlement of farmers, as well as the effects of industry protection measures on small stock farmers among others.
By Jemima Beukes