ANC slams attack on journalist
2013-03-07 16:00
Johannesburg - An attack on a journalist this week in
Queenstown, Eastern Cape, was condemned by the ANC in the province on Thursday.
"The ANC in the province rebukes this evil
conduct," spokesperson Mlibo Qoboshiyane said in a statement.
"We call on journalists not to be deterred from
doing their work, fairly and ethically [by] thuggery [sic] hotheads."
The SA National Editors' Forum (Sanef) earlier said
Zolile Menzelwa, a journalist working on The Rep, a Queenstown weekly
newspaper, was knocked down by two assailants on Sunday evening.
They apparently stood on his chest and dropped a brick on
his ankle.
The two men warned Menzelwa to stop writing about the
mayor.
This pointed to political motivation for the assault,
said Sanef.
Qoboshiyane said people should approach the courts or the
Press Ombudsman if they had complaints about published material.
"Let anyone who has issues with the media engage the
editors [and] reporters and if they don't find joy, lodge their complaints with
the Press Ombudsman or a court of law."
He said harassing reporters would help no one.
On Wednesday, Sanef said the case had been reported, but
that no charge was laid because Menzelwa could not identify his attackers.
Sanef said it was happy that Menzelwa's employers, the
Times Media Group, had beefed up security at his home and would raise the
matter formally with the ANC.
- SAPA
