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The FJT condemns the abuse and persecution of journalists by management at news channel ANN7, owned by modern day slave masters the Gupta family.

The channel’s management is currently subjecting 30 journalists to a kangaroo court on trumped up charges such as “intimidation and bringing the company into disrepute”.

In a bizarre case of paternalistic leadership, arrogance and abuse of power, one employee has been charged with drinking bottled water reserved for guests.

In line with our public call for suffocating media professionals and other victims of discrimination and racism in the media to stand up and take their rightful place as the true custodians of our fragile democracy, the affected journalists rightfully refused to be addressed by ANC Youth League president Collen Maine, who wanted to use their depressing plight to bolster his fading image.

Maine went to ANN7’s Midrand headquarters in April and tried to address the workers over the banks’ unfortunate decision to close the accounts of Oakbay, a company owned by the Guptas.

While workers were unhappy with the banks’ decision, they felt Maine was not a suitable person to address them as he seems to be in the pockets of the Guptas and had failed to open his mouth over their poor working conditions, slave wages and inhumane treatment by the management.

In their misguided bid to appease Maine, ANN7 managers started subjecting dozens of journalists to a kangaroo court this week.

This is tantamount to secondary victimisation and blaming the victims instead of addressing the very conditions that forced them to reject Maine’s self-serving intervention.

The Kangaroo court, which is led by ANN7 news editor Abhinav Sahay, has already found 10 of the 30 employees guilty.

They are awaiting sentencing, which is just a formality because the slave masters have apparently already decided to get rid of them.

We have been told that this is part of ANN7’s conspiracy to victimise and force out uncompliant staff who have been challenging its abusive and poor working conditions.

The FJT would like to put it to ANN7 that we are not going to tolerate enslaving working conditions and the persecution of journalists.

Neither do we find the debasing fear the channel has injected to its employees tolerable.

ANN7 managers and editors must immediately stop their kangaroo court and allow these innocent employees back to work.

They must instead focus their energies on removing the very yoke of discrimination, slavery and fear that continues to burden their employees and make them perform below their full potentials.

The channel must stop using staff as cannon fodders to make political statements, for the sake of making the Maines of this world feel good about themselves. 

Most importantly, its editors and managers must rid themselves of their slave master mentality or at least restrict it to their homes.

Issued by Forum of Journalists for Transformation