Hannes Smith

Johannes Martin "Hannes" Smith (17 March 1933 – 5 August 2008), affectionately known as Smithie, was a Namibian journalist, editor and publisher. He was first reporter at, then the editor of, the Windhoek Advertiser until 1978 when he and Gwen Lister founded the Windhoek Observer, the country's only Saturday paper at that time. He remained the owner and editor of the Observer until his death. Smith started suffering from Alzheimer's disease in June 2008, and died on 5 August 2008 as a result of the disease.

Editorial work 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." After Lister left the newspaper in 1984, Smith ran it as a one-man operation, calling himself "reporter-in-chief". His daughter, Yanna Erasmus, later joined him at the newspaper.