SOUTH AFRICA National Overview 2017 by Raymond Louw, Veteran Journalist and Media Freedom Activist - Media Institute of Southern Africa
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SOUTH AFRICA
National Overview 2017
by Raymond Louw,
Veteran Journalist and
Media Freedom ActivistNATIONAL OVERVIEW 2017 The depth and breadth of state capture –
A
defined as the looting of state resources
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION by politically-connected individuals - is
widely acknowledged. The friendship of
lthough South President Jacob Zuma and the business
Africa’s Consti- association of his son Duduzane with
tution protects a wealthy Indian immigrant family, the
freedom of ex- Guptas, resulted in them being accused
pression and of state capture with the tacit approval of
media freedom, Zuma. They were accused of influenc-
the country la- ing presidential appointments, of having
bours under an knowledge of cabinet appointments be-
assessment by fore they were officially announced and
the New York- even offering cabinet posts to ANC MPs.
based Freedom House that the nation
and its media are only “partly free”. The A few weeks before the year ended, for-
extent of the decline from the status of mer investigative reporter Jacques Pauw
“free” which it had enjoyed after the published a blockbuster of a book ex-
African National Congress (ANC) took posing criminal and corrupt conduct
over from the apartheid government that he says brought South Africa to the
in 1994, was spelled out by the World brink of a mafia state. The book, entitled
Association of Newspapers and News The President’s Keepers, Those Keep-
Publishers (WAN-IFRA) at a conference ing Zuma in Power and Out of Prison,
in Durban on 7 June 2017. confirmed much of what had been pub-
lished in newspapers and was rapidly
The Board of WAN-IFRA expressed con- sold out, resulting in an urgent reprint.
cern that a decade after the Declaration
of Table Mountain was adopted by the Print Media
World Editors’ Forum Conference in
Cape Town in 2007, conditions for me- The print media had a tough year with
dia freedom in South Africa had deterio- attacks by police on journalists cover-
rated, with the government considering ing protests, obstruction by the police of
a range of measures that would intimi- journalists and photographers at crime
date the press, promote self-censorship and accident scenes - in the process
and silence criticism. flouting their own Standing Order 156
which regulates their conduct in pub-
The country’s political and social atmos- lic treatment of the media and at crime
phere was described as being “toxic” by scenes - as well as threats made to jour-
an official of the Eastern Cape African nalists on assignment by demonstrators
National Congress (ANC), the national and members of the public.
ruling party, with faction-fighting in the
ANC and the main opposition party, the There were demonstrations and pickets
Democratic Alliance; the prevalence outside journalists’ homes, death threats
of fake news especially in social me- levelled at Sipho Masondo of City Press,
dia and the heavy stench of corruption former SABC journalist Vuyo Mvoko and
and state capture by private individuals, Sunday Times’ Mzilikazi wa Afrika; theft
politicians, state officials and corporate of mobile phones and equipment while
interests. on assignment, with photographers the
88 So This is Democracy? 2017South Africa
frequent victims, and obfuscation by Print investigative reporters have ex-
government officials and business peo- celled in unearthing much of this infor-
ple when requests for information were mation and gaining access to and pub-
made. licising the contents of correspondence
in leaked emails - the so-called secret
Concerns continued to be raised about Gupta emails – which revealed details
the low compliance with South Africa’s of the corrupt activity. In the course of
Promotion of Access to Information Act the year, criticism of Zuma’s indiscre-
(PAIA), with denial of 46% and 67% of tions and poor governance mounted
requests by the public and private sector and the calls on him to resign or be dis-
respectively. missed became more strident.
WAN-IFRA expressed mounting con- The trend in declining print media cir-
cern over what it described as the suf- culations over the last few years con-
focation of independent and critical tinued in 2017 and was reflected in
media through the Government Com- the latest Audit Bureau of Circulation
munication and Information System’s figures for Quarter 4 (Q4). Losses were
withdrawal of advertising spending, incurred “across the board” in the news-
and the opaque allocation processes for paper category, with a 2.1% drop from
state financial resources to media. Q3 2017 and 5.1% from the previous
year. The dailies showed a 17% drop on
2016, although there were some small
individual gains.
Magazines presented a gloomy picture
The print media had a with an 8.1% decline over Q3, and a
further nasty 16.6% decline over the
tough year with attacks previous year. The ABC reported that
“significant declines” occurred in the
by police on journalists custom sector, but that the consumer
magazines suffered too with only some
covering protests, ob- showing marginal increases.
struction by the police The losses were attributed largely to the
onslaught of the internet, social media
of journalists and pho- in particular, and led to a further decline
in advertising revenue with knock-on ef-
tographers at crime fects on the financial viability of publi-
cations and consequent cuts in expendi-
and accident scenes. ture on news-gathering and staffing.
The most dramatic result of the decline
in advertising revenue together with the
The media, especially the daily and effects of the country’s weak economy,
weekly newspapers, have performed a was the closure by the Tiso Blackstar
sterling service for the country in pub- publishing house of the print edition of
licising stories about state capture, cor- The Times, the sister daily publication of
ruption, abuse of power and question- the Sunday Times which was launched
able conduct of politicians and officials. in 2007. It closed in December and was
So This is Democracy? 2017 89to be replaced by a digital-only online editor-in-chief, and set aside Retief’s rul-
publication. In addition staff were re- ing. On the specific matter related to
trenched. hate speech and unfair discrimination,
the judge said that for an article to con-
On the positive side, complaints by the stitute hate speech, it needs to not only
public to the Press Council and its Press advocate hatred but also incite to cause
Ombudsman that publications contra- harm. “It could well be that the piece
vened the Press Code totalled 499, 37 irritated or annoyed some people; but to
fewer than the 536 received in 2016 classify it as a hate speech would be too
and 92 fewer than the 591 received in huge a jump,” said Ngoepe. The Ombud
2015. The Public Advocate, the official did not deal with Roodt’s subterfuge.
who initially deals with complaints, dis-
missed 199, noted that 39 were with- BROADCASTING
drawn and 145 sent to the ombudsman
who made 137 findings, in which he too The year began with a series of posi-
dismissed a number of grievances. tive developments indicating that the
South African Broadcasting Corporation
Among the findings of the Press Om- (SABC) was headed for conversion into
budsman against the media was a a genuine public broadcaster. A par-
strongly-worded order on the Huffing- liamentary ad hoc committee had con-
ton Post South Africa, launched in 2016 ducted hearings into the SABC, which
by the Media24 publishing house, to started late in 2016 and ended early in
apologise to the public for publishing a 2017.
‘’racist and sexist’’ blog titled Could It Be
Time To Deny White Men The Franchise? The institution was subjected to sys-
that was viewed as inciting hate speech. tematic, sustained and well-researched
scrutiny on a wide range of key aspects
Ombud Johan Retief said the paper that had led to it being labelled an or-
had violated numerous sections of the ganisation in the clutch of an unpro-
Press Code and had “contributed to the fessional clique who used it to pursue
erosion of public trust in the media”. questionable interests. These activities,
He also found that the Huffington Post which included improper editorial in-
had accepted without checking that the struction and censorship, contributed to
blog was written by a supposed femi- the SABC’s losses of approximately R1
nist researcher Shelley Garland. It later billion in 2016/17. The committee had
emerged that Garland was a pseudonym heavily criticised then Communications
for Centre for Development and Enter- Minister, Faith Muthambi.
prise researcher Marius Roodt, who said
he had done so because he wanted to The SABC board, which had counte-
make a point about lack of fact-check- nanced these activities was dismissed
ing in the media and the fact that, in his and replaced first by an interim and
view, white voices were being drowned then a full-term board which drastically
out. Editor Verashni Pillay resigned after cut the losses and showed clear signs of
the scathing ruling of the Ombud, but wanting to be accountable.
later appealed the finding.
The minister who succeeded Muthambi,
On 22 August, the Appeals Panel of the Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, the third
Press Council chaired by Judge Bernard minister in 2017, according to the SOS
Ngoepe upheld the appeal by the former Support Public Broadcasting Coalition,
90 So This is Democracy? 2017South Africa
appeared eager to serve the factional Despite the inclusion in the board of
interests of President Jacob Zuma and several members with close ties to the
also seemed deeply compromised by ruling ANC party, it was seen to be oper-
the new board’s expressed desire to im- ating in a united and independent man-
plement the SABC’s public service man- ner. It removed from office the two top
date. officials responsible for “the clique” and
pursued through the courts the repay-
ment of certain funds by them to help
offset the R1 billion loss. It appointed
four top executives and the appoint-
ment of the Group Chief Executive Of-
The media, especially ficer and Chief Financial Officer were
expected to follow. The board ceased
the daily and weekly to apply the editorial code adopted by
the previous board, reverted to the code
newspapers, have of 2004, and began a process of wide-
spread public consultation to update
performed a sterling itself in order to embrace the best prin-
ciples of a free media.
service for the country
But the board was also grappling with a
in publicising stories number of other issues which included:
about state capture, • The corporate behaviour of Multi-
choice, the main subscription TV
corruption, abuse of service provider;
power and question- • Questionable negotiations between
the SABC and Multichoice over the
able conduct of politi- former’s supply of its archive mate-
rial to Multichoice;
cians and officials.
• A contract between Multichoice and
the professionally deficient ANN7
TV news programme; and
She entered an appeal against the 17
October 2017 ground-breaking Gaut- • An approach to the Independent
eng (Pretoria) High Court judgement Communications Authority of South
preventing her as minister from appoint- Africa (ICASA) to reverse its regula-
ing and firing members of the SABC tion requiring the SABC to supply
board. This judgement resulted in the three of its free-to-air channels to
board having court-sanctioned freedom Multichoice’s DSTV service free of
to appoint its top executives, a right it charge.
had not enjoyed for more than a decade.
The SOS Coalition also noted that the It argued that it was ultra vires the Elec-
board and the Parliamentary Portfolio tronic Communications Act which re-
Committee on Communications were quires these channels to be carried “at
seeking closer cooperation with it on commercially negotiated rates”. The
that mandate. financial consequences of bringing the
So This is Democracy? 2017 91regulations in line with the legislation having disrupted proceedings.
are likely to have significant impact on
the financial health of the public broad- A heavy security presence set up by
caster. members of the police, Defence Force
and State Security Agency - which in-
Public disclosure of the minutes of the cluded heavily armed military police
negotiations between SABC and Mul- - was intimidating. Journalists were
tichoice, and revelations about Multi- prevented from doing their jobs despite
choice’s contract with ANN7, put severe assurances given to the media that they
pressure on Multichoice to change its would not be obstructed, and civilian
corporate behaviour. The key institution clothed police officers prevented pho-
this brought into focus was ICASA. It is tographers and journalists from freely
ICASA which should enforce rules of moving through parliamentary corri-
editorial professionalism on ANN7 and dors. Journalists based in Parliament’s
it appeared not to have done so. media offices were obstructed from
leaving and returning to their offices as
The SOS Coalition complained that the a line of riot police blocked off the ac-
Communications Minister continued to cess road.
delay in making a decision about set top
box (STB) encryption and inter-operabil- Police also attempted to prevent pho-
ity, thereby stalling digital migration to tographers from capturing scenes in the
the point that South Africa may be fac- precinct. Sanef noted that security meas-
ing the collapse of digital terrestrial tel- ures, including the greater role played
evision (DTT) as envisaged, and where by the State Security Agency, appear to
it may have to consider alternatives such have increased year-on-year since 2015.
as migrating directly to broadband and/
or satellite. Cybercrimes and Cyber Security
Bill
The SOS Coalition has misgivings about
the future. It says that as much as there Raising concern on the WAN-IFRA
are encouraging signs, the battle for the board at its June 2017 conference in
heart and soul of the public broadcaster, Durban as likely to lead to a further de-
with its key information provision and terioration in media freedom, were le-
education mandates, is expected to gal issues in the Cybercrimes and Cyber
heat up as the country heads towards Security Bill before the South African
its 2019 national and provincial govern- Parliament. The draft includes vague
ment elections. language that affords an opportunity for
repressive implementation, as well as
ACCESS TO INFORMATION enhanced investigative and surveillance
powers for security agents.
The South African National Editors’ Fo-
rum (Sanef) protested angrily at the se- The Bill also establishes “reasonable
curity measures implemented by Parlia- suspicion” for use of encryption, and
mentary officials and security personnel empowers officials to obtain decryption
during President Jacob Zuma’s State of keys to “search for, access or seize” ar-
The Nation address in February 2017. ticles pursuant to a search warrant. The
Journalists were impeded in doing their board also denounced other features of
work, especially when some parliamen- the Bill, including “an assault on digi-
tarians were dramatically ejected for tal privacy”, which remains central to
92 So This is Democracy? 2017South Africa
the basic tenets of media freedom, and anti-government and anti-media censor-
that it may also “reverse burden of proof ship protests outside the broadcaster’s
requirements, which would force jour- Cape Town offices, died suddenly on
nalists to prove their innocence”. It also June 29 at the age of 32 from what was
includes “regulations that would crimi- described as “broken heart syndrome”,
nalise certain use of social media”. stress cardiomyopathy, as a result of the
trauma she endured.
WAN-IFRA also drew attention to other
prospective legislation that may be used
to further erode press freedom in South
Africa, notably, the draft Prevention and
Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate
Speech Bill, which would criminalise Concerns were ex-
“bringing contempt and ridicule” to fig-
ures of authority; and the Film and Pub- pressed about the po-
lications Board Amendment Bill, which
broadens state power to censor content. tential for censorship
The Board welcomed the commitment in two Bills being pro-
by the governing African National Con-
gress, to decriminalise defamation, and cessed through Parlia-
urged it to fast-track legislation to effect
this as a matter of urgency. WAN-IFRA ment, namely the Cy-
pointed out that this would be in line
with the 2010 resolution by the Afri- bercrimes and Cyber
can Commission on Human and Peo-
ples’ Rights, which states: “Criminal Security Bill and the
defamation laws constitute a serious
interference with freedom of expres- Prevention and Com-
sion and impede the role of the media
as a watchdog, preventing journalists bating of Hate Crimes
and media practitioners [from] practis-
ing their profession without fear and in and Hate Speech Bill.
good faith.” Journalists expressed con-
cern that the ANC may not implement
its promise because some ANC leaders
had second thoughts about the outcome She had received death threats, been as-
of the repeal of the law. saulted, shot at and had her apartment
broken into several times. Her car’s
JOURNALIST SAFETY brakes were tampered with and the tyres
slashed.
Suna Venter, a current affairs journal-
ist and producer for the South African Foeta Krige, Venter’s senior producer at
Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), who SABC for eight years and also a mem-
together with seven of her broadcast- ber of the SABC 8, said he had received
ing colleagues became known as the death threats on 13 or 14 occasions.
“SABC Eight” after being unlawfully Other members of the SABC 8 also re-
suspended and later fired for publicly ceived death threats.
disagreeing with orders not to cover
So This is Democracy? 2017 93On the day of her death, radical Black seats from the stands which they then
Land First (BLF) activists picketed the Jo- hurled onto the field. Fans snatched
hannesburg home of Peter Bruce – Tiso his wallet with R400 (approx. USD 33)
Blackstar publishing group’s editor-at- and a spare camera from his bag but
large and assaulted Business Day editor returned them when he pleaded with
Tim Cohen and a former Business Day them. BackpagePix2’s Sydney Mahlangu
journalist Karima Brown who had visited was struck by a metal object the fans
the house to ensure Bruce had suffered had ripped from the advertising bill-
no harm. On July 17, BLF activists as- boards surrounding the field. His laptop,
saulted journalist Micah Reddy, a mem- which he used to download, edit and
ber of the amaBhungane1 Centre for In- transmit images from the stadium, was
vestigative Journalism, and 10 days later stolen. Makofane said that “the situation
threatened him again at another media was so scary, the police started running
event which BLF disrupted. for cover like the rest of us.”
Meanwhile, Sanef had obtained an inter-
dict against BLF and its founder, Andile
Mngxitama, at the South Gauteng High
Court in Johannesburg, requiring them to
stop harassing, intimidating, assaulting South Africa’s politi-
and threatening eleven senior journal-
ists, editors and commentators who had cal scene underwent
been targeted for their reporting on state
capture. a dramatic change in
BLF later threatened more editors and February 2018 with
journalists with similar protests at their
homes, despite having complied with the resignation of
the court order by issuing a statement on
11 July that the group did not condone President Jacob Zuma
its members intimidating, assaulting and
limiting peoples’ freedom and carrying in response to calls
out other conduct about which there had
been complaints. for him to step down
On 11 February 2017, Orlando Pirates from ANC, Opposi-
soccer fans, angry at the 6-0 winning
streak by their Sundowns opponents at tion members and the
Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, riot-
ed and vandalised the stadium, injuring public, followed by
scores of people, including two photog-
raphers. The rioters invaded the pitch, the election of Cyril
tampered with TV cables and interrupted
the live broadcast of the match. The Daily Ramaphosa as the
Sun’s Themba Makofane was hit on the
foot with a blunt object as he took pho- new President.
tographs of fans ripping plastic stadium
1 AmaBhungane is isiZulu for ‘dung beetles’. 2 A media syndication agency based in South Africa
94 So This is Democracy? 2017South Africa
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ONLINE LOOKING FORWARD TO 2018
South Africa’s digital media environ- Media freedom faces an uncertain future
ment was generally free and open. A in 2018 with the pending legislation on
culture of diverse and active free ex- the Cybercrimes and Cyber Security Bill
pression existed online and is protected and the restrictions contained in the Pre-
by the Constitution which provides for vention and Combating of Hate Crimes
everyone having the right to freedom of and Hate Speech Bill raising concerns.
expression which specifically includes
freedom of the press and other media But South Africa’s political scene un-
and the freedom to receive or impart derwent a dramatic change in February
information or ideas. ICT development, 2018 with the resignation of President
however, continues to be constrained Jacob Zuma in response to calls for him
as a result of an earlier government to step down from the ANC, Opposition
decision to divide the communica- members and the public, followed by
tions portfolio into two departments. the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as the
Concerns were expressed about the po- new President. Ramaphosa is seen as
tential for censorship in two Bills being more liberal than Zuma and may take an
processed through Parliament, namely interest in the effects the two Bills will
the Cybercrimes and Cyber Security have on freedom of expression and per-
Bill and the Prevention and Combating haps reduce their restrictive impact. He
of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill. is much more attuned to an open soci-
ety than Zuma was and some members
The Cybercrimes and Cyber Security of the ANC who have been calling for
Bill has an important role in combat- Parliament to consider the desirability of
ing cybercrime which resulted in South introducing a statutory Media Appeals
Africa having the third highest number Tribunal which would inevitably usurp
of cybercrime victims in the world, but the self regulatory functions of the Press
some of the provisions criminalise what Council and exercise unwanted controls
many would regard as unexceptional over the print media.
online behaviour. The Hate Crimes Bill
expands the definition of hate speech
so that some legitimate expressions are
criminalised. It also plans to monitor
electronic forms of communication and
this, together with proposed amend-
ments to the Film and Publications Act,
has the potential to stifle legitimate
expression. The urge to regulate social
media and blogs is strong and this, seen
together with the other legislation re-
ferred to, has the potential to adversely
affect the country’s internet freedom.
So This is Democracy? 2017 95SOUTH AFRICA MEDIA FREEDOM
VIOLATIONS AND VICTORIES
10 January 2017 8 April 2017
KILLED OR MISSING CENSORED
South African photojournalist Shi- Freelance photojournalist Jacob
raaz Mohamed, was kidnapped Mawela complained of intimida-
in northern Syria by unidentified tion attempts by security officials
armed men as he tried to leave the of the Gauteng Member of Ex-
country in the company of mem- ecutive Council, Lebogang Maile.
bers of the South African charity Mawela was covering the Town-
Gift of the Givers. Amid fears for ship Entrepreneurship Awards at
his safety, attempts are still being Carnival City when he was ac-
made to have him freed. costed by the security officials for
having focused his camera on the
MEC. He was ordered to either
23 February 2017 pack up his photographic equip-
THREATENED ment and leave or be physically
Two members of the SA Police removed from the venue.
visited the offices of the Mail and
Guardian newspaper in Johannes-
burg on what they described as an 7 May 2017
investigation of a complaint by the ASSAULTED
Public Protector. They requested a SABC journalists covering public
statement from journalist Philip de protests in Vuwani, Limpopo, were
Wet on the source of a “leaked” physically attacked. One camera-
draft report by the Public Protec- person was assaulted and three
tor on a questionable apartheid vehicles belonging to the public
era state financial bail-out, that broadcaster were damaged.
has become known as the Absa-
Bankcorp matter. Sanef protested,
reiterating that the confidentiality 8 May 2017
of sources was not only sacrosanct ASSAULTED
but the cornerstone of the ability Protestors and farmers in Coligny
of whistleblowers to expose cor- attacked and chased away journal-
ruption and other malfeasance in ists who were covering the vio-
the public interest. lence that erupted in the aftermath
of a court decision. Photographic
equipment belonging to journal-
24 February 2017 ists from various media houses
ASSAULTED was also damaged. The Minister
SABC journalists reported attacks of Police, Fikile Mbalula, con-
by demonstrators taking part in demned the attacks.
protests in Pretoria. They were
robbed of their mobile phones and
equipment.3 October 2017 14 November 2017
THREATENED CENSORED
SABC correspondent in Lesotho, Journalists in KwaZulu Natal ex-
Nthakoana Ngatane, had to flee pressed concern about plans by
the country following numerous the eThekwini (formerly Durban)
threats on her life. This was the Municipal Council to introduce
latest in a series of incidents of new Rules of Order which would
violence and intimidation against deny access by reporters to some
journalists in the landlocked coun- meetings; and/or restrict the use
try. Due to the deteriorating secu- of electronic equipment in filing
rity situation in Lesotho, the safety stories. Sanef called on the council
of journalists in the country is un- to drop the plan because the con-
der threat and therefore imperils templated restrictions would be an
press freedom. Sanef offered its unconstitutional infringement of
support to Ngatane and issued a media freedom, thus illegal, and
protest to the Lesotho government. would restrict the public’s right to
know about developments that af-
fect their lives. The issue has been
18 October 2017 deferred to the next council meet-
NOTEWORTHY DEVELOPMENT ing.
COMMEMORATION
Sanef commemorated the 40th an-
niversary of Black Wednesday the
day, October 19, in 1977 when
the apartheid government in an
attempt to gag the media, banned
scores of newspapers aligned with
the black consciousness move-
ment, along with 19 pro-democ-
racy organisations, and arrested a
number of prominent journalists.
Black Wednesday triggered years
of resistance to the government
on the issue of media freedom and
stoked Sanef’s fight for media free-
dom in South Africa and across the
continent. Sanef commemorated
Black Wednesday by launching its
new identity and a Media Freedom
Campaign.You can also read
