![\"AI](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/nambian-ai-article-placeholder.png\")
<\/p>\nAmerican YouTuber Darren Watkins Jr, known as IShowSpeed or Speed, confirms he is still coming to Namibia following a recent permit issue.<\/p>\n
The streamer has amassed over 47.3 million subscribers on YouTube, 43.2 million on Instagram and 45.3 million on TikTok.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we are going to Namibia and every country that is on the list. We will be going,\u201d he said yesterday.<\/p>\n
This comes after the Namibia Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) says the operator in charge of flying the jet failed to submit the necessary documentation within the required time frame.<\/p>\n
In a live-stream in South Africa on 31 December, Speed shared that he had to skip a country because a private jet company he hired two months prior failed to secure landing permits on time.<\/p>\n
He said this led to him rescheduling his tour and flying commercially.<\/p>\n
Speed has already visited a number of Southern African Development Community countries, including South Africa, Angola and Botswana, displaying them to his 47 million subscribers.<\/p>\n
According to Joseph Hangula, a Namibian cultural representative in the United States, nothing about the entertainer\u2019s visit was officially announced, likely for the influencer\u2019s safety, but if hosted properly, it could provide massive international exposure for Namibia\u2019s tourism industry.<\/p>\n
Independent Patriots for Change chief whip Rodney Cloete describes the initial failure to grant the streamer\u2019s private jet a landing permit as a failure of vision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we witnessed was not a regulatory triumph, but strangulation by bureaucracy,\u201d he says. \u201cThis was an extraordinary opportunity, yet business as usual was the default response.\u201d<\/p>\n
Digital expert Hafeni Yambeko says the visit is about more than celebrity culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was about boosting the creative industry,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to stop seeing the internet as just consumption and start seeing it as a production engine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Member of parliament Sharonice Busch says the law must apply equally, but argues that the situation could have been handled better.<\/p>\n
\u201cCelebrities are not above the law. But his platform is of such magnitude that we should have ensured compliance without unnecessary delays. That kind of exposure is something we can leverage,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
NCAA spokesperson Nelson Ashipala this week said the authority received the application less than 11 hours before the intended landing.<\/p>\n
\u201cApplications for foreign operator permits require comprehensive documentation and coordination and can take up to 14 days to complete,\u201d he said, adding that the short notice made approval impossible.<\/p>\n
He also confirmed that no drone permit application had been submitted.<\/p>\n
In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian\u2019s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours \u2013 occasionally with a light, witty touch.
\nIt\u2019s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Namibian uses AI tools to assist with improved quality, accuracy and efficiency,
\n\t\t\t\t\t\twhile
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tmaintaining editorial oversight and journalistic integrity.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tStay informed with The Namibian \u2013 your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for
\n\t\t\t\tonly N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy \u2013
Subscribe Now!<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"American YouTuber Darren Watkins Jr, known as IShowSpeed or Speed, confirms he is still coming to Namibia following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102],"class_list":{"0":"post-9408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-namibia","8":"tag-namibia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}