Passing of Ronelle Rademeyer: former EFN SG and news editor at the Republikein

It is with great sadness that the Editors’ Forum of Namibia (EFN) received the news that the highly respected veteran journalist and former Secretary-General, Ronelle Rademeyer, passed away last night after a long battle with cancer.

The news of her death at 56 was announced on the Republikein’s Facebook page last night.

With  just a foot away from breaking the glass-ceiling and becoming editor of the Afrikaans daily Republikein, Ronelle was forced to retire in December 2022 on medical grounds to deal with the cancer that was fast ravaging her body.

Ronelle was a journalist with her heart and soul in the profession and her ethical conduct and insights, caused her to be highly respected by her peers and colleagues.

The EFN will fondly remember her for the crucial role she played in organising the EFN Journalism Awards since 2018, which she often referred to as Namibia’s own “Pulitzer Awards”.

Her last event was on 19 October 2023, a few kilometres outside of Windhoek. Ronelle tirelessly and selflessly dedicated herself in organising these awards, as well as sourced sponsorship to make them a reality.

The 2023 awards ceremony was officiated by the late President Hage Geingob. One of the keynote speakers was Jacques Pauw, a close friend and author of the President’s Keepers, who returned to the Namibian awards ceremony to share insights into his new book Our Poisoned Land.

She was overly excited that the EFN managed to virtually interview the renowned Israeli Professor Yuval Noah Harari, the author of Sapiens and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century on the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on humanity and its implications on journalism.

Harari also spoke about the war in Gaza and how dwelling on the past was the cause of the continued conflict in that region. But for Ronelle, the highlight of her career, was her physical attendance to witness the formal transition of South Africa from an apartheid state to a fully-fledged independent democracy, taking its rightful place among its African peers.

She attended that event as an accredited journalist from Namibia and was able to witness at close range when Nelson Mandela took on the mighty task of becoming the first South African president of post-apartheid era.

Today, the EFN looks back and honours, Ronelle, in the same manner that she worked tirelessly to ensure that the EFN grew over the years to become a respected and integral part of the media landscape in Namibia.

Our heartfelt condolences go out to her family during this difficult time. Her husband Lourens and two sons, Wilhelm and André, as well as her four sisters and her parents.