Fur flies over ‘white, racist journalists’
KATHRADA: STATEMENT IS ‘MOST OBJECTIONABLE’
The Black First Land First movement’s attack on ‘white racist journalists with askari tendencies’ has been widely condemned.
Struggle icon’s foundation reminds of the need for a free, unintimidated press.
Against the backdrop of a hard-fought battle for constitutional democracy in which the media had played a critical role, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has strongly condemned the recent targeting and attacks on white journalists by the Black First Land First (BLF) movement.
The condemnation follows on the BLF’s excessive statement last week, in which it accused some journalists of being racist with “askari tendencies”.
The BLF said journalists Peter Bruce, Sam Sole, Adriaan Basson, Stephen Grootes, Max du Preez, Barry Bateman and Alec Hogg were part of its “list of white racists”, who “masquerade as journalists in defence of white monopoly capital”.
Tim Cohen, Business Day editor, was manhandled outside Bruce’s house on Thursday by BLF members – an organisation commonly known to have ties with the Gupta family.
BLF further accused “black journalists” such as Ferial Haffajee, Karima Brown and Eusebius McKaiser, of mimicking “these white agents of white monopoly capital”.
“Our message to them is that they must repent, ask for forgiveness from black people for being used by white monopoly capital,” BLF said. “They are racists, not journalists, and they will be treated as such.”
Kathadra foundation’s Neeshan Balton reminded BLF that “we come from a past where free media was suppressed” and journalists, therefore, cannot be intimated into changing headlines “simply because a group of people threaten them into doing so”.
“It is disturbing that some find it acceptable to intimidate journalists. We condemn the recent targeting of the Business Day’s Cohen and Bruce by Black First Land First.
“We also find BLF’s statement targeting a list of white journalists and calling on certain black journalists to ‘repent’ most objectionable,” Balton said.
“What makes it all the more worrying, is that the BLF group is known for its outright defence of the Gupta family.
“We come from a past where free media was suppressed. With this history, we know too well the type of crimes that are allowed to go unnoticed without the media fulfilling its watchdog role.
“A free and independent media is a central pillar of our democracy and must be protected.”
The foundation extended condolences to a number of journalists who recently died. This included SABC camera operator Zama Mbalo, Carte Blanche’s Johann Botha, anti-apartheid photographer Ranjith Kally, and Suna Venter – who was part of the “SABC 8”, journalists who were dismissed after voicing their concerns about the national broadcaster’s ban on airing violent protest footage.
Venter died of “broken heart syndrome”, after she experienced a series of attacks against her, including being shot in the face with a pellet gun.
“We can never underestimate the role that journalists play in upholding the constitutional value of freedom of speech. We must laud journalists like Suna, who despite intimidation stood resolute,” Balton said.
They are racist agents of white capital