We wanted to be the voice of the voiceless people of Namibia’

Gwen Lister speaks at the International Women’s Media Foundation’s 15th Annual Courage in Journalism Awards in 2004 in California.

Gwen Lister is a renowned Namibian journalist with a storied career. Known for her efforts to fight apartheid in Namibia, Gwen became the first female editor of a southern African newspaper before going on to co-found two newspapers of her own — including The Namibian in 1985. Gwen was also one of ICIJ’s earliest members and served as an adviser to ICIJ before becoming an alumni member in 2019. 

Lister’s memoir, “Comrade Editor: On life, journalism and the birth of Namibia” was published last year, telling the intertwined story of her career and of journalism in Namibia. We spoke with Gwen about her book, journalism in Africa, and what it means to be an “activist journalist.”

Your book discusses the history of Namibia extensively. Can you describe what it was like to cover apartheid there? How has journalism in the country evolved since?

Obviously, it was very, very difficult to cover apartheid, as you can imagine. There was no such thing as press freedom at that time. And obviously, the apartheid authorities wanted everyone to agree with them and what they were doing, so any kind of independent media, if it did exist, was given a hard time by the authorities.

So it was very, very difficult indeed. That includes not just media in Namibia, but also in South Africa itself where they had a real battle to keep independent newspapers alive and keep telling truth to the people about what was happening under the jackboot of apartheid.

In 1990, when Namibia finally achieved independence, we came up with a constitution that was seen as something of a shining light on the African continent. It wasn’t just apartheid South Africa that had southern Africa in its grip. Further afield in Africa, there were mostly one-party states and they weren’t very friendly to the independent press either. So Namibia’s constitution which provided for press freedom was certainly a breath of fresh air on the continent and immediately improved things, I think I can say.