PRETORIA - The South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) on Thursday said it was disappointed with the ruling in favour of the EFF in the intimidation case it brought against the party and its leader.
The ruling was made earlier in the day at the Equality Court, sitting in the Pretoria High Court. The application by Sanef to interdict EFF leader Julius Malema and his followers from intimidating and harassing journalists was dismissed.
"Sanef is disappointed that the ruling was not in our favour, but maintain we were fully justified to have approached the courts after numerous instances of threats and intimidation were issued by the EFF against journalists," the forum said in a statement.
Sanef and journalists Barry Bateman from Eyewitness News, Pauli van Wyk of the Daily Maverick, Adriaan Basson from News24, veteran journalist Max du Preez as well as Ranjeni Munusamy from the Sunday Times, had asked the court to interdict Malema and his supporters from intimidating journalists on public and social media platforms.
They claimed Malema and his supporters were engaging in hate speech when addressing journalists.
The forum also wanted the court to order the EFF to publicly apologise to the journalists listed as complainants in the case.
Sanef said it welcomed criticism of journalists from any members of the public, but cautioned against bullying and intimidation.
"We call on these critics to engage the media in a way that does not amount to intimidating or threatening the lives of reporters."
The forum said it would continue its attempts to engage the EFF and all other political parties on mutually acceptable rules of engagement.