WINDHOEK – Kae MaÞunÿu-Tjiparuro, who joined New Era Publications Corporation from the Ministry of Information in October 1991 and was present when the newspaper morphed from a bi-weekly to a weekly and subsequently became a daily, has retired.
MaÞunÿu-Tjiparuro, whose last working day was last Friday, worked as New Era’s Editor: Special Projects and finishing as Associate Editor and columnist (2019).
He has been a columnist since 2004 bringing out the weekly column Kae on Friday, which used to be Farayi on Friday penned by the late Zimbabwean editor Farayi Munyuki.
During this period, there was hardly a Friday when the column did not come out. “During this period, one of the tasks entrusted to me by then CEO of NEPC Protasius Ndauenapo, was chairing the technical committee for the preparations of the transformation of New Era which was initially a weekly, then a bi-weekly and eventually a daily,” He said.
Apart from also having served as news editor at New Era in 1992, he was a member of the Media Council of Namibia under the chair of retired judge Kenneth Bethune (now late) serving on the council with the likes of Kenneth John Howard (alternate chair) with Heidi von Egidy (late) as Secretary and the likes of Monica Koep, Hosea Angula, Nora Appolus, Bruno Nebe, David Smuts, Lindy Kazombaue, Rosalina Namises and Kate Burling as members.
He also previously served as Chairperson of Misa Namibia and he was a Trustee of the Base FM (Katutura Community Radio (KCR) and from September 26, 2005-to date as a Chairperson of Base FM (KCR) Board.
Since 2002, he has been a member of Polytechnic of Namibia now Nust’s Media and Communication Studies Advisory Committee.
He was also a guest lecturer for Unam 4th Year Media Studies students and was the guest lecturer at the then Polytechnic of Namibia renamed the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust) specializing on Media Ethics, where he was also a relieve lecturer.
He served as examinations moderator at the then Polytechnic of Namibia.
MaÞunÿu-Tjiparuro also served as part time lecturer at the University of Namibia (Unam)
He was the publications consultant for the Okutumbatumba Hawkers Association (OHA) and the Namibia Shebeen Association (Nasa) in particular responsible for the compilation, layout and design of the two respective organisation’s newsletters, Hawkers Voices and Shebeen News, sponsored by the Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL).
He also served as editorial consultant for various in-house publications like: Echoes for Action (Ministry of Women Affairs), Voice on Disability Issues (newsletter of the National Federation for People with Disabilities in
Namibia)