'Fight tooth and nail'

2003-11-22 19:21

Johannesburg - Journalists must fight hard agaist efforts to force them to testify before courts or commissions of inquiry, human rights lawyer, Advocate Gilbert Marcus, SC, said on Saturday.

Speaking at a SA National Editors Forum meeting at SA Broadcasting Corporation's offices in Johannesburg, Marcus said reporters should refuse to tesify as a first resort at the Hefer Commission.

Judge Joos Hefer should call the people who made the allegations, not the people who reported on them.

"If the media are actually going to get soft, heaven help when it comes to other commissions," he said.

Marcus was addressing the editors on the implications of subpoenas on journalists in relation to the Hefer Commission and a subsequent Bloemfonein High Court ruling.

President Thabo Mbeki created the commission after it was reported in the media that National Public Prosecutions director Bulelani Ngcuka was once probed by the African National Congress in exile for being a spy for the apartheid regime.

"The case is not about the conduct of Ranjeni Munusamy," he said. "It is a matter of whether journalists should testify at all or as a last resort. I think that this saga is very important for the media.

"You weaken your only case by not addressing the principles which are at stake here," Marcus said. "It ought to be fought tooth and nail."

Munusamy is a former Sunday Times journalist, who as its chief political correspondent passed on information about the claim to the City Press, which published the report that caused the creation of the Hefer commision.

Several editors have expressed concern about Munusamy's conduct, saying it was unethical.

Others said she acted as a source, not a journalist, when she passed on the information to the City Press and should therefore testify.

But Marcus has urged them to stand with Munusamy - irrespective of her behaviour - to avoid setting a bad precedent.

Hefer ruled that Munusamy should testify but can object to answer certain questions. She should, however, motivate her objections.

The Bloemfontein High Court upheld the Hefer ruling. Some editors said the court ruling took journalism a step back.

- SAPA