Johannes Martin "Hannes" Smith (17 March 1933 – 5 August 2008), affectionately known as Smithie, was a

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n journalist, editor and publisher. He was first reporter at, then the editor of, the ''Windhoek Advertiser'' until 1978 when he and

Gwen Lister Gwen Lister (born 5 December 1953 in East London, South Africa) is a Namibian journalist, publisher, anti-apartheid and press freedom activist. Early life Growing up under the apartheid system, Lister resolved to fight it as an adult, and c ...

founded the ''

Windhoek Observer The ''Windhoek Observer'' is an English-language Saturday weekly newspaper, published in Namibia by Paragon Investment Holding. It is the country's oldest and largest circulating weekly. it had a circulation of 12,000 to 13,000 copies. The ''Wind ...

'', the country's only Saturday paper at that time. He remained the owner and editor of the ''Observer'' until his death.

Personal

Smith was born in

Grootfontein , nickname = , settlement_type = City , motto = Fons Vitæ , image_skyline = Grootfontein grass.jpg , imagesize = 300px , image_caption = , image_flag = , flag_si ...

Otjozondjupa Region Otjozondjupa is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Otjiwarongo. The region further contains the municipalities of Okahandja and Grootfontein and the towns Okakarara and Otavi. , Otjozondjupa had 97,945 registered voters. Geog ...

. His parents were

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from Free Burghers, predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: ...

s whose families participated in the Dorsland Trek. Smith started suffering from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

in June 2008, and died on 5 August 2008 as a result of the disease.

Editorial work

According to Andreas Rothe, Smith was honoured by his competitors as a "legendary

muckraker The muckrakers were reform-minded journalists, writers, and photographers in the Progressive Era in the United States (1890s–1920s) who claimed to expose corruption and wrongdoing in established institutions, often through sensationalist publ ...

" who "did not bow to the South African nor the

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

government." After Lister left the newspaper in 1984, Smith ran it as a one-man operation, calling himself "reporter-in-chief". His daughter, Yanna Erasmus, later joined him at the newspaper.

1959 Old Location controversy

In August 2003, President

Sam Nujoma Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma, (; born 12 May 1929) is a Namibian revolutionary, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served three terms as the first President of Namibia, from 1990 to 2005. Nujoma was a founding member and the first ...

and Smith became involved in a conflict regarding the 1959 Old Location Massacre, which saw a number of black protestors shot by the

South African Police The South African Police (SAP) was the national police force and law enforcement agency in South Africa from 1913 to 1994; it was the ''de facto'' police force in the territory of South West Africa (Namibia) from 1939 to 1981. After South Afr ...

. Nujoma wrote in his autobiography, '' Where Others Wavered: The Autobiography of Sam Nujoma'', that the wounded were denied medical treatment by white medical staff, including those at the small

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

Society clinic. Smith, a young reporter in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

at the time of massacre, challenged that claim, stating that he had personally witnessed injured blacks receiving treatment. Nujoma responded by accusing Smith of "blackmail" and dishonesty.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Hannes 1933 births 2008 deaths People from Grootfontein White Namibian people Namibian Afrikaner people Namibian people of Angolan descent Namibian journalists Namibian people of South African descent Neurological disease deaths in Namibia Deaths from Alzheimer's disease 20th-century Namibian writers 21st-century Namibian writers 20th-century journalists