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- Sanef has condemned “abusive and intimidating” behavior towards a news crew covering an EFF protest.
- EFF members reportedly chased away an eNCA team from a shopping center in Cape Town.
- Sanef has called on the EFF to defend the principles of the country’s Constitution.
The South African National Publishers Forum (Sanef) has condemned “abusive and intimidating behavior” towards an eNCA news team covering the EFF protest action at a Clicks store in Goodwood Mall in Cape Town on Monday for the morning.
An eNCA reporter and cameraman were expelled from covering the protest at the mall, News24 previously reported.
Party leaders, members and supporters flocked to the mall as part of a national call to close all Clicks stores, following outrage over an offensive hair ad that depicted black people’s hair as “dry and damaged.”
READ | Clicks protests: EFF in KZN criticizes detractors as ‘envious’
According to Sanef, eNCA reporter Nobesuthu Hejana said that she and cameraman Crescendo Louw had been reporting without hindrance on the protest.
“They did a live crossover at 09:00. Then when EFF president Veronica Mente arrived to report to the media, one of the crowd’s supporters yelled that ‘they would not speak to Rupert’s agents.’ Things deteriorated from there with Mind. ” confirming that the EFF will not address the media until eNCA has left, “Sanef said in a statement.
Hejana said, “The fans became aggressive, forcing our cameraman to hurry up and leave.”
Verbally abused
According to Sanef, Mente said they blocked the eNCA team in retaliation for the broadcaster’s withdrawal of its coverage of the party’s second elective conference in December last year. The station withdrew after the EFF banned various media outlets from covering the conference.
In a video recorded Monday, the channel’s cameraman was verbally abused, sworn and verbally abused.
“Sanef is seriously opposed to this kind of intimidation and treatment of journalists by supporters of any political organization. It is particularly concerning because the EFF is represented in the South African National Assembly and in various legislative structures of provincial and local governments. The EFF is bound by the South African Constitution to protect freedom of the media, among other democratic foundations.
“Sanef calls on the EFF and its leadership to defend the country’s Constitution, which guarantees the existence of the fourth estate as a fundamental pillar of democracy.”
Protect the rights of the media
Sanef said he wished to remind the EFF leadership of the words of former President Nelson Mandela, who addressed the Congress of the International Press Institute on February 14, 1994, saying: “No person, no one of opinion, no political doctrine or religious, no political party or government can claim to have a monopoly on the truth. For this reason, the truth can only be reached through unfettered contest between opposing opinions, in which they are heard fairly and equally as many points of view as possible. It has been our argument that the laws, customs, practices and prejudices that impose restrictions on freedom of expression are a disservice to society. “
Sanef said he called on all media freedom-loving South Africans to protect media rights against anyone who seeks to denigrate the country’s hard-won democratic principles of media freedom.
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