Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC)

The Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) is the national public broadcaster of Namibia. It traces its institutional roots to the South West African Broadcasting Corporation (SWABC), established in 1979, and was constituted as Namibia’s national public broadcaster after independence under the Namibian Broadcasting Act of 1991. It has developed into a state-funded multi-platform media house with extensive national reach, operating television channels and a network of radio services broadcasting in English and a range of Namibian languages, and is the dominant source of news in much of the country, particularly in rural areas. NBC is headquartered in Windhoek.

Media assets

Television: NBC1, NBC2, NBC3

Radio: NBC National Radio, broadcasting in English around the clock, together with nine language services covering Afrikaans (Hartklop FM), Khoekhoegowab/Damara-Nama (Kaisames FM), German (Funkhaus), Oshiwambo (Kati FM), Otjiherero (Omurari FM), Rukavango (Wato FM), Setswana, Silozi and ǃHa.

Ownership and governance

NBC is a statutory body established through the Namibian Broadcasting Act (Act No. 9 of 1991), which defines it as a juristic person. The corporation is overseen by a Board of Directors appointed by the Minister of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) for five-year terms. The Board appoints the Director-General, who also sits on the Board as a non-voting member and holds executive authority over operations and staff, acting under directives issued by the Board.

In March 2026, the NBC Board announced the appointment of Menesia Muinjo, previously the corporation’s Chief of News and Programming, as Director-General for a five-year term effective 1 April 2026, in consultation with the minister; she succeeds Stanley Similo. According to the State Media Monitor review, while this governance structure provides for a degree of managerial autonomy, the broadcaster remains structurally dependent on state support and closely tied to the MICT portfolio, with senior appointments made by, or in consultation with, the line minister rather than by an independent body.

Source of funding and budget

NBC derives the largest share of its budget from annual government allocations disbursed through the MICT, supplemented by advertising, airtime sales, annual television licence fees and transmitter rental. State support has varied considerably across recent fiscal years, and published figures distinguish between operational and development allocations.

In the 2026/2027 budget, motivated in the National Assembly in April 2026, the MICT made NBC the principal beneficiary among the country’s three state media bodies, citing continued investment in local content production and the creative industry. Ministry officials have repeatedly urged NBC to diversify its revenue base, describing the broadcaster’s long-standing reliance on state support as financially unsustainable. Figures for earlier years are drawn from the State Media Monitor baseline and reflect a mix of operational and development allocations.

Editorial independence

NBC’s leadership has frequently asserted the broadcaster’s editorial independence. According to the State Media Monitor review, its news programming has nonetheless drawn recurring criticism for favouring the ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) and government narratives, particularly during electoral cycles and major policy debates. During 2024 and 2025, opposition figures and independent journalists alleged that NBC had excluded dissenting voices from its coverage, with some accounts pointing to informal editorial directives from ministry officials; these allegations have not been judicially tested.

There is no statute that enshrines NBC’s editorial independence, and its mandate under the Broadcasting Act centres on public-service obligations rather than on safeguarding institutional autonomy. The communications sector, including broadcasting and spectrum, is regulated by the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) under the Communications Act (No. 8 of 2009), though NBC’s position is treated specially under section 93 of that Act, and its current licensing status is set out in CRAN’s records. The Media Ombudsman of Namibia accepts complaints concerning all Namibian media, including NBC, but its rulings are advisory, rely on voluntary compliance, and carry no mandate to uphold editorial independence at the public broadcaster.

The State Media Monitor’s SC classification reflects NBC’s governance and funding structure rather than the wider national press-freedom environment, which is comparatively open: Namibia placed 23rd of 180 countries in the RSF 2026 World Press Freedom Index (score 76.97), second in Africa and up from 28th in 2025, supported by a diverse private press and a constitutional guarantee of free expression.

AI and digital policy

NBC has expanded its digital footprint through website streaming, mobile applications and social-media channels, distributing its television and radio output online under the NBC Digital News brand and through the NBC Plus platform, which the broadcaster presents as a means of extending reach to rural communities, persons with disabilities, younger mobile audiences and the diaspora. Menesia Muinjo, appointed Director-General in 2026 and, as the corporation’s then Chief of News and Programming, has publicly addressed the use of artificial intelligence in Namibian newsrooms.

At the national level, the Minister of Information and Communication Technology launched the National Digital Strategy 2025–2029 in August 2025, alongside a National Emergency Telecommunications Plan, and Namibia’s first Artificial Intelligence Readiness Assessment Report, compiled by the National Commission on Research, Science and Technology with UNESCO support and drawing on UNESCO’s 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of AI, was launched in the same month. The government has also pursued broader electronic-transactions and cybersecurity reforms through the MICT.

No NBC-specific published policy on AI-generated content, synthetic-media disclosure, or content-provenance standards such as C2PA was identified, and Namibia’s broadcasting-regulatory framework does not yet contain sector-specific provisions governing AI-generated audiovisual content, deepfakes, or synthetic-media authentication.

May 2026