THE coastal community's newspaper, the Namib Times, celebrated its 50th anniversary on Friday.

It is the second oldest newspaper in Namibia after the German daily, Allgemeine Zeitung, which is over 100 years old.

According to Namib Times editor Floris Steenkamp, the newspaper has had to adapt and report on four political regime changes; displayed its cover price in three monetary denominations; changed ownership twice and had four editors.

Paul Vincent, who died in 2006, founded the newspaper in 1958.

The owners now are Dean Kock and Desmond Frankfort.

According to Steenkamp, the newspaper aims to cover local news and provide a service to coastal residents and all those elsewhere in Namibia who have an interest at the coast.

"The Namib Times has reached commodity status, where people would buy it along with milk and bread on the shopping list.

People cannot go without it, and they always make sure they get their copy when it's hot off the press two times a week," said Steenkamp.