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afrol.com, 29 August - The Namibian Labour Court on September 27 ordered the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) to reinstate senior staff member Norah Appolus to the post of news chief at the public broadcaster. The ruling stemmed from an application to this effect by Appolus following several sweeping changes to the top management of the NBC in July this year. In his ruling, Acting Judge Shivute ordered the NBC, its Board Chairman, Uazuva Kaumbi, and Appolus's replacement as News Controller, Charles Mubita, to restore her to her position as Controller: News and Current Affairs. Appolus would remain in that position pending the outcome of the proceedings of a conciliation board that was appointed in terms of the Labour Act to try to solve the dispute between her and the NBC. Acting Judge Shivute's interim order would remain in force until November 3. In one of the first major decisions taken after a new NBC board was appointed at the end of May this year, Appolus was removed on July 4 from the post of News Controller that she had held since October last year. She was shifted, without a reduction in salary, to the more junior post of Manager for Training. At the same time, Mubita was shifted from his post in charge of marketing to that of News Controller. The NBC maintained in affidavits to the court that the personnel shifts the Board had decided on were intended to cut costs for the NBC and streamline its top-heavy management structure. Appolus, though, claimed she was removed for political reasons, because reports the NBC had broadcast while she was in charge of its news section had displeased Government leaders. She specifically mentioned reports earlier this year which revealed that some cans containing Namibian fish had had defects and in which Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was described as "charismatic".
Source: Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
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