Chapter Seven: The democratic subsidy in Namibia’s intelligence oversight mechanisms

Phillip Santos teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the Department of Journalism and Media Technology at the Namibia University of Science and Technology and is Research Associate in the Department of Strategic Communication, University of Johannesburg. He also taught in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe. He holds a PhD from Rhodes University in South Africa and co-edited the books Reading Justice Claims on Social Media: Perspectives from the Global South and Global Pandemics in the Media: An African Perspective. His research interests are in political and strategic communication; the mediation of science and health issues, social memory, gender, Justice and political struggle; the social and policy dimensions of new and broadcast Media, as well as the confluence between political Correctness, populism, post-truthism and democratic politics.

Frederico Links is a Namibian governance researcher and a journalist focussing on state-related governance issues. He has coordinated and contributed to projects at national, regional and international levels. He is the lead researcher for Namibia in the eight-country digital-surveillance research project funded by the British Academy, through the University of Glasgow. He also recently contributed to a study on cybersecurity and cybercrime laws and their impacts on media freedom and free expression across the SADC region. Aside from his journalism and research work, Links is also the founding and current chairperson of the Access to Information in Namibia (ACTION) Coalition of civil society and media organisations and social activists. The ACTION Coalition has been instrumental in successfully advocating for an access to information law in Namibia since 2012. Links is the author of a large number of articles, reports and book chapters.