Zuma defends call for media appeals tribunal
A PROPOSED media appeals tribunal would not contravene the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression, President Jacob Zuma said yesterday on the sidelines of the South African Press Freedom Day commemoration.
While he moved to ease fears over the tribunal, he told editors and journalists during an informal interaction in Pretoria that the media should be regulated and could not be allowed to do as they pleased.
At its national general council last week, the African National Congress resuscitated the idea of forming a media appeals tribunal — a decision taken at the party’s Polokwane conference in 2007 — to hold journalists accountable and to transform the media.
The party feels that self-regulation is not enough to hold the media accountable, so the council decided to fast-track an investigation into the feasibility of such a body.
The earlier resolution called on Parliament to explore the viability and the feasibility of a tribunal in line with the Constitution. Mr Zuma said the move was not intended to clamp down on media freedom.
Regarding the tribunal, he said Parliament would take media freedom and the Constitution into account when conducting its investigation. “Nothing will be done which is in contravention of the Constitution,” he told editors and journalists. He also spoke about the contentious Protection of State Information Bill.
He said State Security Minister David Mahlobo would do “further work” on the state information bill and “at an appropriate time, a determination will be made on the way forward”.
Mr Zuma again spoke out against violence during protests, saying that South Africans were conditioned to fight against those in authority.
“People still think fighting authority by burning property and preventing people from going to work is the way to fight, just like they did during apartheid,” he said.
Mr Zuma said the issue was societal and had not been tackled since 1994. It was holding the country back from prospering.
“The media is in a better position to reorientate our psychological approach to authority as a society …. It’s not a short journey to prosperity, it’s a long one that needs us all to participate,” he said.
The president spoke as universities across SA are increasingly hit by protests over various issues — the most recent being at Wits University over a 10.5% fee hike, which was set aside on Saturday.