Free Press holds Governments officials,which includes you sir, Mr President Jacob Zuma,accountable.Without our leading South African newspapers doing what it does best,which is reporting on "foul play" by such and such...anything short of free press would violate many South Africans human rights to access information they need to know and have every right to know.
It would also conveniently give the Government,any government for that matter,the absolute and authoritative right to classify certain information as not in the public's general and best interest.
THREATS TO THE SA DEMOCRACY & CONSTITUTION...
So far this week all you always read about regarding our "FREE PRESS" were these headlines:
"Sanef threatens action over info bill...threatening legal action if a public interest defence clause is left out of the Protection of State Information Bill..."
or
"ANC fires back at Kasrils on info bill... whereby ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said his party found Kasrils criticism on the Protection of State Security Bill strange..."
or
"MPs vote against IFP's info bill changes...which paves the way for a vote on the bill before the Christmas recess, with the ANC majority expected to pass the contentious measure comfortably..."
or
"South African newspaper blacks out front page in censorship protest... A leading South African newspaper has blacked out several columns in its latest issue, echoing censorship from the apartheid era,after being threatened with criminal prosecution by a spokesman for president Jacob Zuma" from the Guardian Newspaper in London.
Are all these reports still more successful attacks on the South African democracy and its constitution by people like Jacob Zuma and his ANC Government that we as freedom loving South African citizens are about to witness?
Our South African Constitution allows for the promoting of the freedom of press and all other media outlets.You of all people should know that Mr Zuma!Why is that?
Well didn't you,Mr Zuma, take in an oath when you got sworn into office as President of South Africa,that you would uphold and respect the country's constitution?
But should we ordinary South African folks be surprise by how the ANC behaves?
Didn't their ANC Youth League just recently also demanded calls on the government to "amend the Constitution to allow land claims without compensation".It seems as if 'these ANC people always likes to get what they want don't they' and are hellbent in pursuing their agenda without regard for any of that which holds the country together which is our Democracy and the supreme law,The Constitution of South Africa?
AN INDEPENDENT AND INVESTIGATIVE PRESS IS THE LIFEBLOOD FOR ANY DEMOCRACY...
Prof Jane Duncan who is The Highway Africa Chair of Media and Information Society,School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University wrote this:
"The ANC argues that the press are incapable of regulating themselves,and argues that their excessive commercialisation has led to the media's pursuing profit at the expense of basic human rights".
Professor Duncan goes further in saying that "The ANC claims that government has led to a more diverse media landscape,and that the print media remain especially resistant to transformation because they are not state-regulated".
In other words what I gather from what this professor is saying is that had our media been State Regulated,it would've justified a more stringent regulation approach from the Government.Right?
OTHER SOUTH AFRICAN MEDIA BODIES VOICE THEIR CONCERNS...
Civil society organisations(CSO's),The South African chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa(MISA-SA),the Southern African National Editors Forum (SANEF) and the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI),one and all finds Jacob Zuma and the ANCs actions as offensive to the constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression and freedom of the press.They say it does not provide for a public interest defence,but that it rather promotes secrecy and self-censorship.
Reporting on things such as "national interest","security","state security" and "national security" can be abuse by Government Officials,and who can then inhibit access by public interest on certain issues on the grounds that such information needs to be protected and therefore not in your and my best interest.
If everything goes according to as to what the ANC wishes,then we as freedom loving,taxpaying South Africans are certainly trailing in the direction of numerous other African "failed" Governments that have failed to maintain their Democratic Societies.It will certainly be bye bye to all the Democratic Notions of accountability and transparency and a welcoming acceptance to an ill-informed population which might already exist in South Africa.
Are you up for that?I know I for one sure ain't.While the South African parliament are debating new laws on "state secrets" that would see whistleblowers that divulged and disclosed classified information and journalists who publishes such documents would be facing long imprisonment,I would say such penalties are very draconian at the very least and that the bill is aimed at intimidating media outlets trying to expose Corruption in South Africa.
The intervention by the Government is a "chilling forewarning" of what may happen if the protection of the state information bill is adopted in its current form.
P.S.
Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 is a United States federal law that protects whistleblowers.Any Federal Agency violates the Whistleblower Protection Act if they,the agency authorities,take (or threatens to take) retaliatory personnel action against any employee or applicant because of disclosure of information by that employee or applicant. Whistleblowers may file complaints that they believe reasonably evidences a violation of a law,rule or regulation; gross mismanagement; gross waste of funds;an abuse of authority;or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety...
Wonder if South Africa has such a thing as the Whistleblowers Protection Act of South Africa?Would've come in handy for the Media/Press in South Africa had such a Protection Act been part of the Constitution?
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