South Africa: Presidential Press Corps Questioning Raises Outcry

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From: Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI), [email protected]

Weekly report

Focus of the week

11-May-02

In the past few weeks the National Intelligence Agent (NIA) in South Africa
raised an outcry among journalists after it demanded intimate details about
their private lives. Journalists were asked to disclose details about whom
they
slept with, whether they are homosexuals or not and several other questions
related to the setting up of the presidential press corps.

The reason behind the questioning was for security clearances for
journalists
who would cover presidential activities. The decision to form a presidential
press corps was agreed between the South African Editor's Forum (SANEF) and
the
government. The meeting came after government complained about bad publicity
it
received over its stance on the Aids and the anti-retroviral issue and also
on
how it handled the Zimbabwean issue.

"We are not against the idea of a press corps but we definitely disagree
with
the line of questioning," said Mondli Makhanya one of the members of the
SANEF
council. He said the practice is an international phenomenon and they saw no
problem about it. The rationale behind the idea is to forge good relations
between media and state and allow a better flow of information.

This suggestion has implications on whether the media will able to do their
job
without government interference. Apart from the press's role of informing,
the
press also serves as a critical voice. The state in order to control the
people
it would want to censor the information that reaches the public, it would
also
want praises and not criticisms. There are inherent contradictions between
the
state and the media and the press can only meet its mandate, by widening
those
contradictions and widening debate.

The uncritical acceptance of the idea of press corps should be a matter of
great
concern. It seems the media did not bother to weigh the implications of a
group
of journalists being registered as an elite section to cover the
presidential
activities.

The implications are obviously far reaching and pose a serious threat to
free
press. It now means journalists will have to go through a process in which
the
government would allow or refuse them to access information to enable them
to
cover matters around the president. Editors have always been the ones to
chose
journalists to cover particular events and for this to lie in the hand of
the
government is highly problematic. This could even set a precedent for
several
government departments and other institutions to demand that all journalists
dealing with them should be registered.

The establishment of such a structure will also involve rules that may
actually
amount to censorship. With another result being that journalists may also
censor
themselves to fit into the structure.

Diary of the Week

Defamation law faces test in Holomisa case.

Defamation law may face substantial changes if the Constitutional Court
allows
the Sowetan Sunday World newspaper to appeal against a ruling made by the
High
Court in the case of the United Democratic Movement Buntu Holomisa.

According to the Sowetan newspaper of May 8, Holomisa sued the Sowetan
Sunday
World for defamation. The newspaper argued that the law should require the
onus
to be on the plaintiff to prove the falseness of the statement instead of on
the
defendant to prove that the report was true.

Gilbert Marcus, a lawyer for the Sunday World, told the Constitutional Court
that the law should find a balance between the right to dignity and the
right to
freedom of expression. He said that there was an imbalance at the moment in
favour of the right to dignity.

Public attacks a woman after Special Assignment programme.

The Soweto woman, who was shown on the South African Broadcasting
Corporation's
current affairs programme, Special Assignment went into hiding after the
public
attacked at her home.

According to the Star newspaper of May 9 the woman was shown on Special
Assignment for allegedly dealing in human body parts. The bones she sold
were
however found to be those of a cow.

Another journalist arrest in Zimbabwe

Another journalist was arrested in Zimbabwe in the case of a beheaded woman.
It
is alleged that the Zimbabwean opposition party Movement for Democratic
Change
said Zanu Pf youth killed Brandina Todyanemandu by cutting off her head. The
newspapers picked up the story and reported it.

According to the Citizen newspaper, Pius Wakatama is the fourth journalist
to be
arrest for reporting on the matter. Two journalists from the Daily News and
one
from the British Guardian were arrested last week for reporting on the
alleged
beheaded case. All journalists are charged under the new Access to
Information
and Protection of Privacy Act.

SABC fails to meet mandate-ANC

South Africa's ruling party the African National Congress (ANC) has accused
the
public broadcaster the South African Broadcast Corporation (SABC) for
failing
meet its mandate.

According to a report in the Business Day newspaper of May 7, 2002 the
ruling
party will tell the broadcaster today that it was biased towards
entertainment,
and a balance was required between education, information and entertainment
and
that more African languages should used.

ANC, communications committee chairperson Nat Kekana says, "We would like to
see
more current affairs programmes in all languages so that the SABC becomes a
platform for citizens to participate in discussions about their lives. The
SABC,
we believe is falling short of its mandate as a public broadcaster. It
should be
more developmental in its work."

According to Kekana the SABC needs to end transformation in order to meet
its
mandate. The apartheid regime used the SABC as its mouthpiece and the
broadcaster engaged in a process of transformation soon after the democratic
government was elected in 1994. The ANC said it now believes that the
broadcaster should end the process of transformation and start implementing
services.

For further information contact:
Freedom of Expression Institute
Information and Communications Officer
Scotch Tagwireyi
Phone: 27 11 403 8403
Cell: 27 82 821 0756