'Journos shouldn't testify'

2003-11-22 21:46

Johannesburg - The South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) on Saturday called "for an immediate withdrawal of the calling of journalists to testify and provide documentation" after learning that the Hefer Commission of Enquiry intends to subpoena and request more journalists to give evidence at its enquiry in Bloemfontein into the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka.

During a Sanef national council meeting, Sanef chairman Henry Jeffreys said the move would "violate a prime principle of journalism relating to the respect of the sanctity of the documentation, sources and confidential information obtained by journalists in the course of their work."

Jeffrey said the latest actions of the Hefer Commission would undermine the ability of the media to perform its task in society and could set a damaging precedent for the abuse of journalists and their sources.

The statement follows reports that the Hefer Commission requires several editors and journalists including Mathatha Tsedu, Mondli Makhanya, Elias Maluleke and Joe Thloloe to appear before it on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Jeffrey said its opposition to the development was based on the need to preserve public trust in the media.

"Journalistic independence is critical to maintain the free flow of information which is the oxygen of a vibrant democracy."

The organisation added that journalists should also not be called to testify if this could endanger their lives, their sources, their families or the value of the journalism profession.

He said it was in terms of the general principles that the organisation also associated itself with the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa), the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) and Media Workers Association of South Africa (Mwasa) in supporting any constitutional court challenge to the recent High Court ruling that journalist Ranjeni Munusamy should be a witness to the commission.

"Our position here is not based on the particular individual involved, but on the principle that, to the extent that the Commission still seeks evidence by journalists, this should only be as a last resort, and then that it is the choice of the individual concerned to decide whether to respond."

Sanef also affirmed journalistic ethics on respect for the terms of off-the-record briefings, and distanced itself from editors and journalists who departed from these.

"Such briefings are common practice in journalism as a means of obtaining background information and which serve to enrich the role of the media in disseminating information in the public interest."

Earlier on Saturday, human rights lawyer, Advocate Gilbert Marcus, SC, said journalists must fight hard against efforts to force them to testify before courts or commissions of inquiry, Marcus said reporters should refuse to testify 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 Bloemfontein High Court ruling.

President Thabo Mbeki created the commission after it was reported in the media that 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 Commission.

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