By Ilham Rawoot
So what does a journalist do when he or she is being assaulted for doing their job (this is not a riddle)?
This is what our photographer, Oupa Nkosi and I had to grapple with last week, when we had six angry people throwing rocks at Oupa and his camera.
And what do we do when the police could care less about our plight?
We had driven out to a small village close to Sun City called Ledig to do a story on alleged corruption within the authorities controlling the community’s money, and came across the home of one of the council leaders. It made for a good picture, as the house was large and freshly painted amidst many tin shacks.
As soon as Oupa had taken photographs — unashamedly so, since it’s completely legal to take photographs of private property, as long as you’re not intruding onto the property — two cars started following us around. The passengers finally pulled over with us, got out, threw rocks at Oupa and tried to strangle him, and successfully damaged his very expensive camera.
But what could we do? We couldn’t fight back, they were six and we were two. They were the innocent civilians, we were the evil paparazzi who need a media tribunal to be kept in check.
When we finally got to the police station to lay charges of assault, Oupa was told that he was a “suspect” because the women who had tried to injure him were already at the station, laying a charge of assault against him.
Perplexed, we pushed to lay a charge and make witness statements. The police, who obviously knew the women from the village, were openly unfriendly and tried to intimidate us by threatening to lock Oupa up for the night and confiscate his camera, even though he had done nothing wrong.
And our experience is food for even more thought following representations made last week in parliament against the Protection from Harassment Bill, or “stalking bill”, currently before Parliament.
Under this bill, the council leader whose house we took pictures of would be able to get an interdict to prevent the photographer from taking photos of the house, even though they tell a very interesting story, quite clearly.
The attitude towards journalists has been tainted. We are easily suspected of being vicious, and people who would normally be respectful of our work feel the right to treat us with disdain and even violence.
The attitude of the leadership has become the attitude of the people, and as long as journalists are made to appear vengeful and spiteful, that’s how the public, in cases where they are feeling threatened, will choose to see us.
Please do us all a favour and follow up on these charges. Lay official complaints if the police neglect their duty. Keep the public informed on progress. Power abuse by the new elite must be confronted everywhere.
Journalists are heroes. Keep taking pictures, please.
TIA
It’s simple: if we all stop buy You magazine and similar garbage, there’ll be no more need for disrespectful journalists, and the only concrete argument for the tribunal will fall away.
Jens Eggers is right, report the whole thing to the body responsible for police conduct then please report the whole matter including feedback if any in the newspaper. There are many civilians out there who gets the same treatment from the police and would dearly like to know how to deal with this. Don’t see this as an anti-media situation, it is an anti-anyone-who-still-insists-there-is-justice situation and, of course, a lack in accountability of the police force.
Courageous! where did you upload the pics?
@ Rawoot, Like any citizen, I’m glad you guyz survived the ordeal and managed to report it to the police. But the suggestion that it amounts to a heading ‘journalists against the world’ is ridiculous and revealing of the state of mind of some journalists.
Ask any Telkom officials whose proffession it is to disconnect electricity in the townships and you may get the picture that your proffession is not unique or special in anyway in such experiences.
As for the Harassment bill, pls do take cognisence that there are social challenges that its aimed to address. By dilluting it to a bill thats aimed at the media, is making a mockery of the plight of those that need it.
Well, my advice is just like everyone else
What a disgrace! The SAPS are getting way too big for their already copious britches. “Stalking” is intimidating and/or threatening behaviour over a considerable period of time that results in the ‘target’ being in fear for her/his physcial safety or that of family members or friends.
JOURNALISM IS NOT STALKING. AND A NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER TAKING A PICTURE OF THE HOUSE OF A PUBLIC SERVANT IS NOT A VIOLATION OF THE PUBLIC SERVANT’S PRIVACY.
The Sino-isation of South Africa is well under way with idiots like the stone throwers and police cadres running the show. Obviously, the stone throwers did not know that the journos were there to expose how the people of the community were being ripped-off by their ANC representative. Then again, maybe they don’t have to pay taxes so it’s not an issue for them…
As a famous journalist once said: “You can’t fix stupid”.
@Siobhan – You’re shouting? Not like you, is it? I do agree with what you are saying though.
@ X Cepting Sorry, but the ANC do seem to suffer from selective deafness.
The famous journalist I mentioned is Linda Ellerbee and the occasion was a US Democratic Party Convention in the 80s. Ellerbee happened to be in a “ladies’ room” when a white woman from the convention turned to a black woman and, assuming that she was the wash-room Attendant, asked for a hand towel. The black woman was Rosa Parks, the woman whose refusal to give up her seat on a bus in the 1950s set the Civil Rights Movement in motion, as it were. Parks (whose image was on huge posters all over the Convention Centre) was at the Convention to receive an honour for her courage and commitment to non-violent protest. Ellerbee closed her report on this incident with an observation regarding the ignorance of the white woman : “You can’t fix stupid.”
She got that right.
@Siobhan – Very true. Perhaps we should put vuvuzelas to productive us outside houses of parliament.