Journalists accosted in Cape Town

Cape Argus photojournalist David Ritchie and reporter Yolisa Tswanya were allegedly manhandled while covering a story in Cape Town. File photo: Flickr.com

Cape Argus photojournalist David Ritchie and reporter Yolisa Tswanya were allegedly manhandled while covering a story in Cape Town. File photo: Flickr.com

Published May 23, 2013

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Johannesburg - Reports that a Home Affairs official allegedly manhandled reporters outside a Cape Town police station were met with outrage by the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) on Wednesday.

Sanef said in a statement that Cape Argus photojournalist David Ritchie and reporter Yolisa Tswanya were covering a story about the arrest and detention of immigrants at the police station when they were accosted by the official.

“According to Cape Argus executive editor Gasant Abarder, the officer pulled Ritchie from outside the police station, grabbed his camera and proceeded to delete the images - without identifying himself.”

A police officer, who witnessed the incident, apparently ordered Ritchie off the police premises.

The newspaper's legal representatives were investigating the matter, with a view to instituting civil and or criminal cases against the official.

Sanef said it supported this action.

“Sanef is also concerned that it appears that wayward officials have taken to deleting images.

“Why would government officials go through the trouble of manhandling journalists and deleting their pictures if they (officials) knew that they had not broken the law and thus had nothing to hide?”

Sanef said the deletion of images was illegal and should not be tolerated in a democracy. - Sapa

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