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‘Stop the return to Apartheid-era secrecy’


iol news pic oct 19 media march 1

SAPA

Journalists and members of civil society conduct a march to Constitutional Hill in Johannesburg on National Media Freedom Day, as part of a protest against the draft Protection of Information Bill they see as a threat to South Africa's democracy.

About two hundred people with masking tape over their mouths started marching from Senate House in Johannesburg on Tuesday, as a silent protest against the proposed Protection of Information Bill.

“The bill is unconstitutional... Marching to the Constitutional court is therefore important,” Right2Know spokesperson Siphiwe Segodi said to reporters.

Most marchers did not get the memo about a silent protest and sang struggle songs loudly while carrying their banners down Jorissen street.

Many carried the banners, “Ignorance is no bliss” and “Stop the return to Apartheid-era secrecy”.

“We hope that through this march, consideration will be made to radically revise the bill,” Segodi said.

Earlier, the organisation's spokesperson Mark Weinberg said in a statement: “The Right2Know campaign aims to raise awareness about the threat that the Protection of Information Bill - the secrecy bill - poses to our democracy,”

“(We want to) mobilise South Africans to demand that the Bill be scrapped in its current form.”

Marchers were expected to meet at noon on Tuesday outside Wits University's Senate House entrance in Jorissen Street and start marching towards Constitution Hill.

“We will start off with the singing of the national anthem and then listen to a poem written by one of our partners. We will then have a member of the SA history archives talk about the info bill,” the campaign's Gauteng convener Ayesha Kajee said.

“Lastly, a member of the anti-privatisation forum will talk about the potential impact of the bill on communities at grassroots level.”

Pickets were also expected to take place in Durban and Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday, with a comedy evening ending the campaign's first day in Cape Town.

Supporters of the campaign included the Media Institute of Southern Africa, Media Monitoring Africa, the Professional Journalists Association, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and writer Nadine Gordimer.

Campaign activities would take place until October 27. -

Sapa

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Anonymous, wrote

IOL Comments
07:39pm on 19 October 2010
IOL Comments

Amazing how quickly the Press has become the enemy of the State when it no longer toes the line and reports against the thieving leaders!

IOL Comments

ProudlyDemocraticAfrican, wrote

IOL Comments
06:02pm on 19 October 2010
IOL Comments

@KABELO, wrote 04:02pm on 19 October 2010 HOW MANY STUPID PEOPLE DO WE HAVE IN SA.THE BILL CANT BE STOPPED BY LESS THAN THOUSAND PEOPLE.IF U REALY LIKE S.A TRY TO PUSH TRANSFORMATION AT sanef it is too white,u beaty just support nationalisation everything will be ok. ____________ Kabelo, your stupid RACIST NATIONALISTIC agenda "argument" is pro-african-NATIONAL-congress - not unlike the NATIONAL PARTY apartheid abuse I and the likes of Madiba fought against .... down with the protection of information act - viva Transparency & Democracy, viva!

IOL Comments

Anonymous, wrote

IOL Comments
05:50pm on 19 October 2010
IOL Comments

Kabelo, suggest you get an education instead of commenting on something you know nothing about. Your type though, is EXACTLY what the current regime want. Ignorant, and sure to vote for them again next election, as happens evry election. Do not, however, forget the mass who are fighting their way through the intended land mine of poor education and are empowering themselves with TRUTH. They will be the future leaders(both black and white). You will be left behind twiddling your thumbs

IOL Comments

the violence of democracy, wrote

IOL Comments
05:38pm on 19 October 2010
IOL Comments

Which moron initiated the lobby for it and who were the idiots that voted it in? Democracy always speaks with a forked tongue. It boasts all about it's la dee dah rights but then crushes the very freedoms it brags about sytematically in order to control society. Hey that sounds like communism. A majority in a democracy give their votes in as proxy for an elite minority group in government to do as they please. The correct term should be demo-proxy which is a majority ruled by a minority whilst using their majority vote. The zealously guarded constitution in a democracy does not necessarily represent what society voters really want but reflect the policies of a minority elite. There's something fishy about this whole 'act'. Seems to be sinister plot to clampdown with a form of marshall law. Gag the media, disarm civilians, use crime and terror tactics as a means of crowd control and voila - 'The lamblike democracy is really a dangerous beast'... From the violence of apartheid to the violence of democracy...First oppressed by nationalists and now oppressed by capitalists who operated on both sides. Capitalism, communism, democracy and even apartheid are controlled by the same elite groups that control governments and the world. Mugabe crossed their wires and paid the price for his foolishness. He thinks he won but hasn't. They're using US dollars now. Who really controls Zim, not mugabe, he's just the puppet...

IOL Comments

Anonymous, wrote

IOL Comments
05:30pm on 19 October 2010
IOL Comments

It's a news black-out, like everything else, from ESKOM to SABC. If it isn't broken, fix it until it is broken.

IOL Comments

sharp stick, wrote

IOL Comments
05:23pm on 19 October 2010
IOL Comments

Graham F ... bru ... what on earth makes you think that SA is anything like a neo-communist state ?... if your not careful about expressing such unpatriotic and counter-revolutionary opinions mate , Comrade Zuma will "mobilize the cadres" on yer arse!.... Kabelo - got a message for you too... "one person can make a difference - two people - can change the world" If thinking that makes me stupid then so be it, but it is my honest opinion and it is freely expressed (geddit?)

IOL Comments

Anonymous, wrote

IOL Comments
04:55pm on 19 October 2010
IOL Comments

This is not apartheid secrecy - it is ANC dictatorship policy.

IOL Comments

mike358, wrote

IOL Comments
04:54pm on 19 October 2010
IOL Comments

The money is running out ... there is no more world cup money and jobs, things are slowing big time and unemployment is on the rise. Corruption is rife and now its time for our headless chickens (ANC) to put the brakes on media so that they can get away with more. When are the masses going to see the ANC for who they really are. Do they all have to be jobless before they wake up????

IOL Comments

jules, wrote

IOL Comments
04:30pm on 19 October 2010
IOL Comments

@KABELO - this is just one demonstration. Major companies and other civil rights movements are drawing up petitions with thousands and thousands of signatures on it, at the moment.

IOL Comments

RGP, wrote

IOL Comments
04:29pm on 19 October 2010
IOL Comments

re KABELO, try living in a world where there is no press freedom , you dont know how the Govt of the day is lining its pockets and those of buddies. If you are working and contributing to the fiscus, you have a right to know how and where your tax money is spent.Nationalisation is not a panacea for all ills, ask Russia. The first sign of Nationalisation and foreign capital will fly out of SA like flies to excrement! Then you will have the benefit of your vaunted nationalisation. Look northwards to our neighbour, what was once a jewel in the African crown is now a hopeless basket case, thanks to idiotic "freedom fighters" now ensconced in Govt, reminiscent of our own of the rest of the continent. Like it or not, Africa under "Freedom, Uhuru,call it what you like has managed to roll backwards after the forward momentum of the "Colonials" dissapated. Thats the story of Africa

IOL Comments

Affected , wrote

IOL Comments
04:18pm on 19 October 2010
IOL Comments

I would say a good mix of Apartheid, China and Cuba.

IOL Comments

Anonymous, wrote

IOL Comments
04:03pm on 19 October 2010
IOL Comments

I think it is comfortable to refer to this as Apartheid-era secrecey. This is current ANC policy. It is here and now! So let us not believe that this is something from the past. The current ANC government must be hled responsible for what happens here and now!! If they don't they will always use this as an excuse to bull s--t their voters and normal South Africans.

IOL Comments

KABELO, wrote

IOL Comments
04:02pm on 19 October 2010
IOL Comments

HOW MANY STUPID PEOPLE DO WE HAVE IN SA.THE BILL CANT BE STOPPED BY LESS THAN THOUSAND PEOPLE.IF U REALY LIKE S.A TRY TO PUSH TRANSFORMATION AT sanef it is too white,u beaty just support nationalisation everything will be ok.

IOL Comments

Graham F, wrote

IOL Comments
03:55pm on 19 October 2010
IOL Comments

It isn't apartheid style its communust style as in China & Cuba, our big mates.

IOL Comments

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