THE Government ban on The Namibian was no longer defensible, said Speaker of Parliament Theo-Ben Gurirab, speaking at the 25th anniversary function of the newspaper on Saturday night.

Addressing a group of several hundred attendees at the event, the Speaker said that "whatever the reason was or who did what, when, how and why, the ban is no longer defensible".

Admitting that he was "part of the decision" by Cabinet to place a ban on Government advertising in the newspaper nearly a decade ago, Gurirab said he now wanted to renew a call he had made earlier in writing for Government and his party, Swapo, to act to bring the ban to an end.

"That we should still be talking about that ban ... is a sheer waste of time. The whole thing tarnishes everybody's integrity", he added.

The Speaker thanked the Editor, and former and current co-workers, for "constantly widening our people's horizons and maintaining a towering legacy of excellence and patriotism for a quarter of a century and still 'telling it like it is'".

Gurirab held aloft the special 25th anniversary magazine, given as a gift to readers of The Namibian on its anniversary, saying it was "a mere bird's eye view of a truly eventful journey which we are celebrating".

"The history this publication recounts is full of endless trials and tribulations but also of internationalist solidarity. It is indeed a fine testimonial to the resurgence of the human spirit," the Speaker said.

It had also prompted him, he said, to "think long and hard about the struggle".

Gurirab, who had left Namibia in 1962, as "Peter Mafurira returning home to Nyasaland" (now Malawi), added that he was then still on the good side of 25 years, where the 'born frees' currently are. "I know the weight of a quarter of a century", he said.

"As I was leaving Walvis Bay in 1962, Comrade (Nelson) Mandela was heading for the Rivonia Treason Trial. After that it took us roughly the same (amount of) years - he getting out of prison and I returning back home from exile".

The magazine also prompted Gurirab to reminisce about Gay McDougall, a US-based lawyer and anti-apartheid activist, who also assisted The Namibian with legal defence of court cases at the time. He paid tribute to her as his 'idol' and 'special friend' for managing to get the United Nations, at the time, to engineer what Gurirab called 'an uncertain legal lacuna' called "functional immunity" and which prevented his expulsion from the US, at the time of the Reagan Administration, as a 'terrorist' and 'communist'.

Gurirab said that his time in the US, and the decades of the American war in Vietnam and other social revolutions of the 60s and 70s, had taught him pertinent lessons. One was the unwritten rule that "politicians and journalists are not supposed to become passionate friends but should rather deal with one another on a respectful professional basis.

"Omake!", said Gurirab about The Namibian's anniversary.

The occasion was presided over by Bob (Vezera) Kandetu as the Master of Ceremonies, and a toast was given by Dave Smuts, well known lawyer and founder of the Legal Assistance Centre, who worked closely with the Editor of The Namibian, Gwen Lister, to start the newspaper in 1985. Lister also spoke at the occasion.