When The Light Fades, It’s Feeding Time

Michael Hedges August 16, 2010 Follow on Twitter

Politicians feed on the affection of their constituents. It sustains them, for good or ill, making them powerful. Getting between a politician and his or her craving doesn’t bode well for news media.

South Africa basked in klieg lit international attention during the football World Cup. The sounds, vuvuzelas included, and sights were stunning. Barely a month after television crews packed their kits, light stands removed, nasty noises returned as they do in the darkness.

South Africa’s ruling African National Party (ANC) has proposed a Media Appeals Tribunal, which would give to those unhappy about making headlines a venue separate from courts to take their complaints. A Protection of Information law proposed in the South African National Assembly would allow the government to classify information and punish media outlets that report any of it. The government says it’s only trying to protect citizens from “never elected” journalists.

It’s a fierce battle within South Africa, setting ruling politicians and the news media against each other.  The ANC referred to the country’s newspaper publishers as “enemies of the revolution” while daily newspaper The Citizen, in an editorial (August 13), called President Jacob Zuma “an enemy of media freedom.”

Both the Protection of Information Bill and the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal seem to represent a policy of protecting public officials, and punishing those who would hold them accountable. 

The hallmark of South Africa’s transition to a democratic nation was the adoption, in 1996, of its Constitution, in particular it’s Bill of Rights. Media freedom is enshrined in Section 16: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes freedom of the press and other media; freedom to receive or impart information or ideas; freedom of artistic creativity; and academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.” It is considered among the strongest affirmations of media freedom in the world.

South Africa’s printed media adheres to a self-regulatory Press Council, Press Ombudsman and Appeals Panel. Broadcasting, however, is strictly regulated. South Africa’s Constitution (Chapter 9, Section 181) established an “independent authority to regulate broadcasting in the public interest, and to ensure fairness and a diversity of views broadly representing South African society.” A separate law established (2000) the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), the independence of which continues to be subject to interpretation. Public broadcaster South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is considered firmly under political control.

Publishers, media watchers and political groups have robustly condemned both measures as prescriptions for limiting press freedom in South Africa. Saying the measures “represent a policy of protecting public officials and punishing those who would hold them accountable, “ the International Press Institute (IPI) asked President Zuma in a letter (August 11) to “urge…amendment or withdrawal of the Protection of Information Bill and…to end the creation of the Media Appeals Tribunal.”

“These threats to the media freedom signal the growing influence of conservative authoritarianism in our body politic,” said Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC) Mark Weinberg. “We have witnessed various expressions of this including the attempts by some traditional leaders… to revive the apartheid era social, political and economic control of the countryside through the post-apartheid legislation.” The AIDC is a progressive leadership and monitoring organization that supports community and alternative media.

“These uninspired comments from the president demonstrate a shallow understanding of constitutional democracy and the august responsibility of the office of the president,” said Congress of the People (COPE) deputy president Mbhazima Shilowa (August 12). COPE is a rival to the ANC formed in 2008 in the aftermath of corruption charges against Jacob Zuma.

Professional Journalists' Association of South Africa (ProJourn) said the Press Ombudsman “has operated reasonably well, with a host of decisions going against the media, who have been ordered to publish apologies and corrections, often on their front pages.” ProJourn General Secretary Samantha Perry offered (August 12) that the current press complaints system should be reviewed “with a view to strengthening self-regulation” but the Media Appeals Tribunal should be “taken off the table.” 

The government and the ANC have staunchly defended both the Protection of Information law and the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal. “They (newspapers) need to be governed themselves because at times they go overboard on the rights,” said Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa and the ANC, refuting the concept of news media as “watchdog of the people” because “they were never elected.”

“It is the four media houses who are against it, and if they don’t engage us we will not wait for them,” said ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe in a Rhodes University speech, quoted by NewsTime. “This permanent disability of individuals by the media must be stopped.” The four “media houses” he referred to are Avusa, Media24, the Independent Group and Caxton CTC. 

The relationship between President Zuma and the media dates from those ugly corruption charges. “What triggered it was probably the investigation and the leaks around the case of corruption and fraud that was brought against him,” offered VOA News Johannesburg correspondent Delia Robertson (August 9).  “And also, since he became president, the number of cases of questionable actions by the government expenditure, cases of corruption, cases of dereliction of duty have just skyrocketed.”

One unhappy public servant is police commissioner General Bheki Cele. Sunday Times reporter Mzilikazi wa Afrika wrote a series of articles exposing a dodgy lease deal for a new Pretoria public headquarters building. General Cele said (August 2) it was "unwarranted negative publicity" from the articles that made necessary new measures to bring reporters and publishers to heel.

Two days later (August 4) Wa Afrika was arrested, placed in custody, notes, computer and mobile phone seized. On arraignment (August 6) he was charged with fraud, forgery and “uttering” – circulating fake documents. One of original charges was possessing a purported letter of resignation from Mpumalanga (province in eastern South Africa) Premier David Mabuza to President Zuma. Mabuza said the letter was a fake and brought charges against Wa Afrika. Mabuza is an ANC member.

“I was asked whether I was directly or indirectly involved in discrediting senior ANC office bearers,” said Wa Afrika about his interrogation, quoted by News 24 (August 7). “That made me wonder whether the police were investigating a criminal or a political case. They also wanted to know who are the big politicians I'm working with behind the scenes. This made me conclude the police were sent by politicians to harass and intimidate me.”

In July Mabuza directed his attorney to bring suit against several newspapers. “They must pay us because they defamed the premier,” said attorney Davies Mculu, quoted by News 24 (July 13). “They never verified the stories and called him a gangster.” The newspapers reported on a police raid of Mabuza’s residence that netted a large sum of money and eight AK-47 assault weapons. It’s believed Mabuza’s “resignation letter” – fake or not – relates to the police raid.

Paris-based media watcher Reporters sans Frontieres noted in its 2009 Press Freedom Index (October 2009) that South Africa, along with Mali and Ghana on the African continent, have become shining lights in media rights, eclipsing several Western European countries. US-based Freedom House was less generous in its Freedom of the Press 2010 study (April 2010), dropping South Africa (and Namibia) from Free to Partly Free.

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