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The entire nation should be shocked by the reports that a SABC
cameramen has been severely beaten up and is in hospital because he
was filming the ANC centennial celebration in Cape Town where a
violent confrontation is reported to have taken place between ANC
factions. Reportedly, he was beaten up when he refused to switch off
his camera.

This is a terrible attack on press freedom. This is not an isolated
incident, but the reflection of an growing mindset within the ANC
which has expressed itself in Malema verbally assaulting the media at
a press conference, the ANC proposals to have a media tribunal and the
secrecy bill.

We call on the SABC staff, the management and Board not to yield to
political pressures to minimize the matter as an unfortunate incident.

Even in wars, media and medical personnel are respected and protected
by belligerents of both sides. What happened reflects the lack of
respects that the ANC has either inculcated or allowed to grow among
his members. Zuma's apology is welcome but is not sufficient without
a firm commitment on the side of the entire ANC leadership to change
the ways they deal with the media, which in the final analysis is the
way the ANC deals with the people's right to know.