Editors act to block threats to journalists
Sanef applies for urgent interdict against Black First Land First and its leader
THE South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) filed an urgent court application against Black First Land First (BLF) and its founder‚ Andile Mngxitama, yesterday. Sanef wants the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to interdict BLF and Mngxitama from harassing‚ intimidating‚ assaulting and threatening 11 senior journalists‚ editors and commentators who were targeted for reporting about “state capture”.
“This follows a protest at the private house of Tiso Blackstar editor-at-large Peter Bruce on Thursday last week and the intimidation and harassment of Business Day editor Tim Cohen and political commentator Karima Brown at Bruce’s house‚” Sanef said in a statement.
“BLF has since threatened more editors and journalists with similar protests at their private homes and has referred to Brown‚ HuffPost editor-at-large Ferial Haffajee and Talk Radio 702 presenter Eusebius McKaiser as ‘askaris’.
“The other co-applicants are amaBhungane partner Sam Sole‚ News24 editor Adriaan Basson‚ Talk Radio 702 presenter Stephen Grootes‚ independent journalist Max du Preez‚ Eyewitness News (EWN) editor Katy Katopodis and EWN reporter Barry Bateman.”
Sanef chairman Mahlatse Gallens said in an affidavit to court that the harassment of journalists was part of an orchestrated campaign.
“Each one of the journalists are senior professionals who in their area of reporting expertise have reported to the nation‚ objectively and independently, on the political state of the South African economy and the corruption and maladministration consequent upon the alleged capturing of the national economy to further the interests of an elite few.”
Gallens said journalists were being targeted to keep corruption and state capture allegations out of the public domain. “The concerns around state capture are rife. “Not a day goes by that we as South Africans are not faced with the pervasive impact of its corruption and maladministration.
“It is important that free and independent journalism is brought to bear on these reports because the media is also a catalyst of peace‚ dialogue and understanding‚ which will create the framework for the public to digest these reports within the bounds of the rule of law.
“If we are perceived in any way as falsifying information because we are being threatened‚ public debate becomes fractured‚ polarised and, I daresay‚ volatile as a consequence of segments of society perceiving themselves as being misled.”
The court was asked to interdict BLF and Mngxitama from gathering outside the homes of the journalists‚ threatening them with violence on social media and inciting harm against them in public interviews.
‘ BLF has since threatened more editors and journalists
IHAVE watched that video over and over again. Perhaps out of a strange sense of shock at the thuggery displayed or maybe a desperate need to make sense of it all in my mind.
Of course it may be that I watched it repeatedly because it was indeed a sobering moment.
Twenty-three years into our democratic journey, we have reached such a point of political descent that a group of imbeciles is allowed brazenly to intimidate journalists to protect the interests of a rogue mafia running our country.
As you know by now, a start-up group of nobodies calling themselves Black First Land First (BLF) held a so-called protest outside the home of our editor-at-large, Peter Bruce, in Johannesburg last Thursday.
They spray-painted “land or death” on his garage door.
They attacked another colleague, Tim Cohen, who had gone to check on Bruce that day.
The “protest” followed a series of articles by Bruce which laid bare how much the Guptas had plundered our country with the help of President Jacob Zuma and some ministers.
Ironically, BLF’s demonstration unfolded on the same day that industry colleague Suna Venter’s brave heart finally succumbed to despicable savagery unleashed on her by a similar network of criminals in the past year.
The BLF’s “protest” was the latest in a well-orchestrated operation attempting to scare off journalists from reporting on the Gupta family’s shenanigans.
They’ve been at it for a while now.
Their strategy is well known.
It includes cyber-bullying, the creation of the most bizarre propaganda and, lately, that good old tactic straight out of the apartheid handbook: illegal surveillance. Their narrative is simple. It is to portray any media critical of the Guptas as part of a grand scheme by white monopoly capital to oppose transformation and the emancipation of black people. It is untrue. Yet it was carefully crafted and pushed – ironically with the help of a scandalous British PR firm, Bell Pottinger – because it somewhat resonates with those who believe that our media industry is elitist and racist.
First, allow me to state yet again my belief that our industry, like the nation it mirrors, is by far not perfect.
Therefore precisely because ours is such a crucial pillar of our democracy, I believe as journalists we are compelled continuously to introspect and take responsibility when our behaviour undermines our mandate to report ethically, without fear or favour.
Importantly, I believe our newsrooms across the board must up-skill and transform.
This is the only way we can tell accurately the compelling story of our developing nation with authority and credibility.
Yet, dear reader, here’s what you and I already know.
The BLF campaign is not about that.
It has nothing to do with a righteous crusade to compel the media to a higher journalistic standard.
Frankly, it has nothing to do with black people or their struggles for that matter.
Nor is it even about radical economic transformation.
It is simply paid thugs practising thuggery on behalf of their puppet masters.
It is about shutting down the truth to protect a criminal enterprise whose grip on our public purse is increasingly exposed and threatened by the day.
As tempting as it may be to dismiss these idiots, it would be unwise to do so for two reasons in particular.
They are a shameless front to a much larger and more powerful network within the ANC that is firmly in charge of crucial organs of state.
The BLF’s increasingly brazen attitude suggests that their masters are getting more and more desperate.
Second, the grand mandate behind these efforts is a dangerous one.
We have seen it in many parts of our continent and the world.
It is to break down democratic boundaries which safeguard our constitutional order.
Indeed these campaigns often target individual journalists that you may or may not agree with.
But they are not about those individuals and thus must not be treated as such.
They are about creating an environment in our country where there is no right or wrong, where corruption is legitimised and any voice of dissent is crushed.
They are about demonising accountability and normalising crime.
Theirs is a divide and rule scheme which uses a legitimate South African struggle against racism and class domination to delegitimise, particularly in the eyes of the black majority, those who speak out against looting.
It undermines our intelligence and ability to discern right from wrong, regardless of our different world views.
We must fight it at all levels of our society. It will not work. It cannot. Whatever Zuma may have promised to his criminal friends, he will never deliver to them our silence.
Journalism is not a crime.