Johannesburg - The government has recommitted itself to the recognition and protection of the freedom of expression, as enshrined in the constitution - as the controversial so-called secrecy bill remains unsigned by the president.
Speaking to some of the country’s newspaper editors, foreign correspondents and veteran journalists at the Presidential Guest House in Pretoria to celebrate “20 years of media freedom” under the auspices of the “Black Wednesday” commemoration, President Jacob Zuma said South Africa’s main achievement had been the creation of its internationally lauded constitution.
Part and parcel of this was the celebration of the freedom of the press and other media, the freedom to receive or impart information or ideas, the freedom of artistic creativity and academic freedom.
“We have freedom of speech in this country. We have opened up. In other countries you can disappear for (speaking too freely),” he said. But the freedom should not be seen as a limitless right at the expense of other people’s rights.
People had the democratic right to protest, to express themselves, he said, but not to do so violently.
“When our people take to the streets to express their views about anything, we respect this right because scores of our people went to jail or were killed fighting for the right to express themselves. The only appeal we make is that this right must be exercised peacefully.
“The violent protest marches are therefore unnecessary as the country is run by a government with leaders who fought for these rights and who would never deny our people the right to say what they think.”
Zuma said he looked forward to continuing to engage with the media.
“We are establishing a Presidential Communication and Media Working Group, which should be able to provide a platform for the sharing of ideas between government and the sector on any issue.
“There is a lot we can discuss, from media diversity and transformation to how the media industry can contribute to the attainment of the 5 percent growth target by 2019,” he said.
Zuma paid tribute to The Star’s former chief photographer Ken Oosterbroek, who was killed in Thokoza, Ekurhuleni, a few weeks before the April 27 elections in 1994, as well as to the SABC’s Calvin Thusago, stabbed to death by a mob in Sharpeville on April 23, 1993 while on duty, as well as many other courageous journalists who had paid a high price for their craft and were no longer here to witness the 20th year of freedom.
Among them were Zwelakhe Sisulu, Percy Qoboza and Drum journalists Henry Nxumalo and Nat Nakasa.
Qoboza was the editor of The World, shut down by the apartheid government on October 19, 1977, a move that signalled the ratcheting up of the apartheid government’s repression, targeting journalists and stilling dissent in the wake of the Soweto riots of the previous year and the murder of iconic Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko the month before.
The closure of the paper and the Weekend World has been commemorated ever since on this date as “Black Wednesday”.
“Our country has come a long way,” Zuma said.
The constitution had provided the framework for the type of nation that followed, one in which poverty was foremost as the government tried to transform the country from apartheid, but this too had brought its own challenges.
Under apartheid, people could not even come to the cities looking for work. Since 1994, they were streaming into the cities as fast as the government was building houses for those it had already identified.
Service delivery protests, Zuma said, had been induced precisely because of the government’s programmes to alleviate poverty and the expectations it created.
“When foreigners come here, they see opportunities. Our people are waiting for government because they are not used to standing up for themselves.”
There were no service delivery protests in the rest of Africa, he said, because in those countries there was no hope of the government intervening for the poor.
The Star