Hannes Smith

According to Andreas Rothe, Smith was honoured by his competitors as a "legendary muckraker" who "did not bow to the South African nor the SWAPO government."^[4] After Lister left the newspaper in 1984,^[5] Smith ran it as a one-man operation, calling himself "reporter-in-chief". His daughter, Yanna Erasmus, later joined him at the newspaper.^[2]

In August 2003, President Sam Nujoma 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. 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 Society clinic. Smith, a young reporter in Windhoek 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.^[6]