Johannesburg - The South African National Editor’s Forum (Sanef) on Friday said it was alarmed by the latest spate of violent attacks on journalists covering protests in the Tshwane.
Reporters were this week intimidated with threats of violence, attacked and chased away by protesters during the unrest in Tshwane, SANEF noted.
Protesters this week went on a rampage, torching buses, closing down streets and looting shops after the African National Congress (ANC) named former cabinet minister, Thoko Didiza, as its Tshwane mayoral candidate.
The protesters said they wanted Kgosientso ‘Sbutla’ Ramogkopa to remain as mayor of Tshwane after the 3 August local government polls.
“We call all South Africans and particularly the residents of Tshwane to respect the constitutional rights afforded to journalists to freely report the news without threats of violence, intimidation or arrest,” SANEF said in a statement.
eNCA reporter Jody Jacobs and camerawoman Noluthando Hlophe were robbed at gunpoint in Mamelodi after a live crossing on the protests on Wednesday evening.
Earlier the same day protesters ordered Power FM journalist Tshidi Madia to leave Mamelodi. A day earlier she had been forced out of Soshanguve.
SABC journalist Horisani Sithole was bitten on the hand in Mabopane while trying to film a mob that was looting a spaza-shop owned by a foreign national.
News24 reporters Jeff Wicks and Karabo Ngoepe were allegedly beaten up on Wednesday by a police officer in Ga-Rankuwa, where law enforcers fired rubber bullets at protesters and suspected looters.
On Tuesday, Atteridgeville residents forcibly took the phones and a video camera of EWN reporters, Clement Manyathela and Kgothatso Mogale, after threatening them with bricks.
A freelance photographer from AFP had his cellphone stolen while taking pictures of the unrest in Mamelodi.
Sanef urged community leaders and activists to help educate the public about the role of the media in a constitutional democracy. However, the forum also acknowledged those community members who protected journalists during the violent protests.
Sanef said it would approach the office of the acting national police commissioner, Lieutenant General Johannes Khomotso Phahlane, about the alleged unlawful actions of police officers.
“Police Standing Order 156 explicitly states that the SAPS may not prohibit journalists from taking photographs or making visual recordings of crime scenes.”
African News Agency