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The Democratic Alliance (DA) would like to express our support for the stand taken by the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) against the harassment of journalists by members of the South African Police Services (SAPS). The growing number of journalists arrested or assaulted by the police, or both, has serious implications for our freedom of the press. I shall be writing to the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) today requesting a full investigation into the treatment of journalists by the SAPS.

The incidents of intimidation of journalists have been numerous, especially over the past year. There is evidence of a growing problem, with SANEF stating that they have complained to Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and Police Commissioner Bheki Cele on numerous occasions about the dozen or so incidents in the last 18 months. This issue has unfortunately once again come to prominence due to two separate incidents of police harassment of journalists. In Pretoria, police tried to arrest and confiscate the camera of Pretoria News photographer, Masi Losi. It was only at the intervention of the paper’s Executive Editor, Jos Charle, that the police let him go. In Bloemfontein, police arrested a journalist for the Volksblad, Theo Jephta, while he was taking pictures of school children fighting, while police stood idly by. He was detained in a police vehicle, before being driven away.

These are the latest incidents in a disturbing trend of police assaults on journalistic freedom:

Last year, South Africa was shocked by the arrest of Mzilikazi Wa Afrika of the Sunday Times. This arrest took place the week after Mr. Afrika had broken the story of Police Commissioner Cele’s abuse of his authority in leasing a new building for the SAPS headquarters, a story which triggered a series of revelations about the commissioner’s conduct that led to our call for him to resign yesterday;
Also last year, President Zuma’s VIP Unit forced Eyewitness News online journalist Tshepo Lesole to delete pictures he had taken of their cars;
In 2009, Kgalema Motlanthe’s VIP Unit confiscated SABC footage;
In 2009, Sky News journalist Emma Hurd said she was pushed around by President Zuma’s bodyguards during an election rally;
At the end of 2010, I wrote to the ICD to request an investigation into the illegal arrests of two journalists from the Sowetan newspaper by the Hillbrow Police.

In the final case relating to Hillbrow Police, an investigation was launched by the ICD, at my request, on 4 January 2011. That investigation now needs to be expanded to cover all incidents of illegal arrest, assault of journalists and confiscation of journalists’ cameras and material. It is no exaggeration to describe these and other incidents as an attack on media freedom by the police. Last year, Freedom House, an independent international body that monitors freedom globally, reclassified South Africa’s media from ‘Free’ to ‘Partly Free.’ One of the criteria for evaluation is an examination of the political environment. Two of the categories there are measurements of the ability of journalists to cover news freely and the amount of intimidation by state authorities. As such, there is little doubt that official police intimidation has been a factor in reducing press freedom in South Africa.

I hope that a full investigation by the ICD will result in this situation getting the degree of attention it deserves. The public response to the Zuma administration’s Secrecy Bill and Media Tribunal proposals has made it clear that ordinary South Africans will not accept attempts to curb media freedoms. Whether these threats come from legislation or from police action, we cannot allow this basic constitutional liberty to be infringed upon.