APA-Windhoek (Namibia) Countries from Southern Africa and West Africa continue to dominate Africa’s press freedom rankings, with the two regional blocs contributing all 10 states adjudged to have conducive environments for journalists in 2023.
According to the 2023 World Press Freedom Index, Southern African Development Community (SADC) member Namibia reclaimed from Seychelles – another SADC state – its position as the country with the freest media in Africa.
Despite dropping from 18th position globally in 2022 to 22nd place this year, the southwest African country was the top-ranked African country, followed by South Africa which saw its global ranking rise from 35th last year to 25th currently.
President Hage Geingob’s office said Namibia’s top ranking was reflective of Geingob’s commitment to ensure the media is free to perform its function of “keeping the public informed and government institutions accountable.”
“This demonstrates the fact that the strength of Namibia in press freedom is a function of the commitment of President Geingob and the government that he leads to upholding the values of the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia,” it said in a statement.
Both Namibia and South Africa were adjudged to have freer media landscapes compared to global powers United Kingdom and United States, which ranked 26th and 45th globally, respectively.
The West African archipelago of Cape Verde is the third ranked African state, clocking in 33rd position, while fourth-placed Seychelles suffered the biggest drop from 13th to 34th position over the past year.
Other countries in the African top 10 are, respectively, The Gambia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mauritius and Botswana.
JN/APA