Enough silence.
The last time I blogged on this site it was about #SpeakZA, an initiative started by Sipho Hlongwane and amplified by the online community as a protest against Malema and his cronies trying to gag the media. Well it looks like the war has stepped up a few levels. And I have to say I am pretty worried.
The very freedoms that were paid for in blood, death and torture by anti-apartheid activists are now under attack once again. In a week that Selebi, another struggle activist, goes down for corruption there are outraged calls from ANC officials and alliance partners to gag what they term the biased and unfair media.
Mzilikazi wa Afrika, a journalist from the Sunday Times who worked on an article that alleged police commissioner General Bheki Cele had leased new police headquarters for R500 million without following normal tender processes, has just been arrested for “fraud” and “defeating the ends of justice”. It seems like the price of exposing brash corruption is clear.
Isn’t it ironic that the very organisation that fought so hard for the freedom of press, freedom of expression and civil rights seems to be the one who is threatening them? It’s also ironic that the same gag tactics that the National Party employed back in the dark apartheid days are once again being employed by those in power.
Freedom of press is essential to a healthy society. Why? Because if no one is checking on those in power — whoever that is — there is none to stop them from doing whatever they want.
How many people reading this are happy with how their money is being spent by the government? Are you happy with the service levels you are getting? Happy with the roads? The hospitals? The rate of crime? Housing? The massively failing education system? Are you happy with the outrageously expensive cars that are being driven by some government officials or the inordinately luxurious homes they some stay in? Are you happy that YOUR hard-earned money is being spent on officials rather than on running our country properly and truly helping the people who really need help — the poor.
I am not.
So why should this not be exposed? Make no mistake — this is not a war just on the media. It’s also a war on you and your rights.
unfortunately the majority of South African voters like the big fat opulent chief to worship and adore…. so they get them and keep them.
I am filled with despair over the total absence of comment concerning the third last paragraph of your blog.
Note what role our president and therefore his close friends played during apartheid.
The spooks are back in control. The intelectuals and statesmen have gone.
In about 20 years we will sit down and redraw the constitution to get back to the rule of law and freedom of expresion but first as in all liberated countries we have to go through the redistribution of wealth and that cannot be done nicely, it has to be done by force.
“Isn’t it ironic that the very organisation that fought so hard for the freedom of press, freedom of expression and civil rights …”
So you were one of the naïve who believed that lie? Maybe time to realize that you believed wrongly.
The fact that Jackie Selebi has been tried and found guilty is going to make the powers that be even more determined to push this legislation through. There are too many people in positions of authority who have enriched themselves and family members in an illegal manner and need to be made to answer in the courts.I doubt whether Jackie Selebi would have been prosecuted if the “Free Press” had not exposed all his shenanigans. In all probability he would have moved onto another lucrative cushy job in government.
If the “Free Press” do not expose what is wrong in our society the pressure is off as far as doing something about it is concerned.
In retrospect it is a pity that the individuals involved in the “arms scandal” were never made to answer in court. This would have stopped a lot of the nonsense we have today.
Butch Hannan
@Stuart
For sure I am not happy that my hard earned money is spent by this ANC government. Unfortunately, I am also part of the minority group that contributes the largest amount of personal taxes to a hostile government in which we have no say and who are always seeking ways to trample on our rights. The only comfort I have in such a distressful state is the fact that there is a free press, and defending by all means the absolute right to information in the context of media freedom is an obligation on freedom loving people in this country.
@ Stewart Spot on!
The Media Tribunal and the “Protection” of Information Act are aimed at every citizen of South Africa. Those who support both measures are either ignorant/naive about the role of Free Speech in a Democracy or they have something to gain by ensuring that there will be no oversight of government performance by the public.
Any action on the part of the governing party to secure to itself immunity from accountability is an assault on the rights of everyone in the country.
The Press has an obligation to act as our eyes and ears, observing and reporting what happens ‘behind the scenes’ where corrupt deals are made and the population of SA is betrayed by greedy politicians and ‘deployees’.
Would you really rather that 80,000 civil servants succeeded in paying themselves social grants and denying those grants to the people who will die without them? If the Press was prevented from reporting that information because it the government says it not in the national interest, would SA be better off? The money would still be missing and the thieves would continue to enrich themselves and the country would quickly go bankrupt. That is what happened in Zim as a result of censorship that called itself ‘national security’. The only ‘security’ is for the thieving thugs in government.
Whistleblowers and the Press help keep that from happening here.
The Press is not the enemy of the people; government control of the press is the enemy.
@jerome firstly the people who fought for freedom of the press, one person one vote etc etc covered a broad spectrum of society, it was not only members of the ANC. Secondly the people in the ANC who were of that calibre have, over the last 16 years, been largely supplanted by parasites who want to use the freedom, fought for by their predecessors, solely for their own selfish ends. This is a not uncommon occurrence when a political party gets into power andit has to be resisted tooth andnail by members of civil society.
This tragedy has to be opposed by all who have a conscience. We have municipal elections on the horizon and they offer us our first point of impact. We now have to get our hands dirty and get out there so that people are sensitised to how they can defeat arrogance and demand delivery. We need to reignite our courage and stand up against oppression
I am not surprised. Few people know that the Soviet Union, one of the most repressive systems the world has ever known, had a “model” constitution similar to our own. Yet they brazenly kept violating it while giving lip service to “democracy”, as long as the Party had its way.
We are just repeating history.
Amen,Jerome.
“Isn’t it ironic that the very organisation that fought so hard for the freedom of press, freedom of expression and civil rights …”
These were never dearly held beliefs by those now in power but just a mantra repeated for the benefit of the West in exchange for their money and support.
The same West that worked so hard for the overthrow of Rhodesia and the bringing to power that great democrat, Mugabe.
Only about 8% of the population pays tax, which makes that portion more likely to vent. It also has the education to vent. But don’t think that those who don’t pay tax are much happier! I employ two people. Both work here once a week and both are seething. Not about the media issue; that does not touch their lives. Neither buys a newspaper. But both know how much money has been wasted that should have been spent on service delivery and would vent if their education allowed for it.
Understand that those who don’t keep quiet are actually helping those who don’t know how to make themselves heard but don’t want to join the violence of the rabble rousers. Do it as a public service. Because you can.
@ Jerome: My thoughts precisely.
As someone who is vehemently anti-ANC, I LOVE the idea of a media tribunal.
It tells me that the ANC is in disarray, afraid, got something to hide, and is essentially in trouble. All this is good news.
Bring in the metaphor of enough rope and they’ll hang themselves, and this media tribunal may just be the gallows knot in the ANC’s rope. I DARE them to bring it on! It will cause their own downfall even faster, and that is always good news – the faster we get them out of government, the faster this country will grow and heal.
Silence the media? Yeah, right, even the Nats could not effectively do that. its drawing a line in the sand and I for one cannot see the fourth estate backing down on this – there will be TONS of illegal bad press coming to the fore, much too late for the ANC to do anything about it. And then…
Then… ah, the bliss of international scorn! South Africa will be a pariah state again, and all the good we have done will go down the drain. Sounds bad on the surface, but its just a normalising effect. Once they are out of power the see-saw will level out and then SA will take its true position on the world stage, a country united, not divided by politicians in it for their own gain.
Ditto Stuart.
Break out the tear gas!!
How does it feel to complain about a gagged press knowing full well that you apply the same to suit your point of view? What exactly is your reason?
Thanks for all your comments everyone. It’s great to have this platform to promote discussion.
Hugh – not sure i understand what you are saying. Please elaborate.
@Gerry “once they are out of power…”
Not so quickly….look out for the pres’s favourites: a well fed Police force and military, a-la Mugabraria. Only when THEY are deposed will “the see-saw level…”
The enemy is well dug in…and will remain so for a long time to come!!
Obviously the IQ challenged leadership and their greed driven legal counsel have never heard of the internet and its power to communicate anything anywhere in the world. Gag the press by all means, some journalism does not qualify as objective, factual reporting anyway and we can have some relief from that. Then lets see the power of the internet come to the fore. ANC, this is the 21st century although you are still so haunted by the ghosts of the distant past.