Just ruling for editor unfairly fired

IT’S WONDERFUL that a South African court has renewed faith in our democratic institutions by reinstating the Citizen newspaper’s editor, Steve Motale, who was fired unjustly and without due process.

Thankfully, the judiciary towers over all other national bodies.

The reason given for getting rid of Motale was that he wrote a piece apologising for excessive media denigration of President Jacob Zuma.

Maybe his opinion was flawed in that instance, but that was his personal opinion and it is in agreement with what many South African citizens think: that vilification of the president is both excessive and offensive.

Mr Motale was fired just for doing his job, part of which entails putting our society under the magnifying glass and disseminating a range of opinions.

We regularly hear of the necessity for editorial independence and freedom of expression in our democracy, from sanctimonious bodies such as the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef), but clearly such media attributes are worth defending only when they suit a certain blinkered political agenda.

When media entities such as the SABC and the New Age are placed under scrutiny, the whole alphabet soup of vocal so-called pro-democracy activists rightly take to the streets in sizeable numbers in protest. However, when Sanef was recently asked to comment on Motale’s dismissal, it refused to give any opinion as it said it was a “legal matter”.

Similarly, the sudden departure of former Business Day editor Sengezo Zibi and claims by journalist Phakamile Hlubi of ENCA (e.tv) of racism in the ENCA workplace, which she termed “a haven of racism”, were met with a deafening silence from the usually vocal, litigious, supposed protectors of South African democratic imperatives.

The Citizen was born out of the dirty tricks shenanigans of the apartheid regime, which culminated in the notorious “Info Scandal”.

The newspaper is now part of the giant Caxton stable. The Motale episode is reminiscent of our grubby, undemocratic past and the apartheid honchos would be justifiably proud of the current seemingly likeminded media management at Caxton.

A personal opinion and what many think