United they stand ,the right to know campaign

Blog Reflective Piece

Doing the package was interesting experience for me as it meant I had to find different story angles which was sometimes difficult task to do.

 I originally had an idea of portraying a life of a refugee which seems easy to do at first but finding someone who would be willing to let me in their lives was a bit difficult. It was also interesting how I had to ‘convince the person that this was just an assignment and something that would be published .

Which made a bit sceptical as had this been an actual story where I had to post it up on a news website and working under dead line what would I have done.

What was frustrating though was not being able to find someone who wanted to share their story with me .But it  was  motivating having to push myself as a journalist to be able to speak to them in a way that they would ease up to me.

The Durban University of Technology held a panel discussion on media freedom in South Africa to commemorate world freedom day.

The importance of press freedom is to raise awareness of the importance of the freedom of the press and remind our government of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression. The Windhoek declaration, declares that, “The world­wide trend towards democracy and freedom of information and expression is a fundamental contribution to the fulfillment of human aspirations”.

Professor Ruth Teer who is UNESCO Chair in communications highlighted the importance of the declaration and discussed the concept paper that is currently being discussed in the international debate Tunis.

“Media freedom is fragile and not at the disposal of everyone and you don’t have to go to Tunis where the Arab uprising happened to see that this is true”.

She went on to say that the press freedom is not an issue in the making, “It might be a human right but it’s not something that is anything close to being established “.

Murray Hunter, who is the Right to Know coordinator, highlighted the establishment of the campaign as a “direct unified element towards the secrecy bill”. He went on to say that they have recognised this as a symbol of a much broader problem as this will make it harder and harder for journalists .“The right to access is not enjoyed by everyone “, he said.

Dr Rene Smith DUT Journalism programme Coordinator pointed out some of the challenges to press freedom as being self censorship, she went on to say that there is a culture of fear and censorship, ”we are scared to tell our stories “.

It was distinguished that this is something that has to be dealt in schools by academics, lectures and professors where they should assist as ‘censoring’s something that begins in schools. “All of us take responsibility and accountability “she said.

Is this the end for Malema ?

The ANC’s national disciplinary committee of appeals confirmed Julius Malema's expulsion from the party.

 He was found to have done many hostile things from comparing Zuma’s leadership style to remarks about regime change in Botswana. The final straw came when he was rude and made reference to Zuma to being a ‘dictator’

The ruling basically means that Malema will no longer be president of the ANC Youth League.

Malema who was elected president of the ANC Youth League in April 2008 at a chaotic conference in Bloemfontein, will be remembered for a lot of comments /quotes that would leave people to discuss robustly about issues in South Africa.

The ‘bloody agent ‘and’ chacharac’ comments  he made to a BBC reported during a media briefing will left the world questioning his leadership skills .

After being found guilty and fined R10 000, he was also made to apologise publicly and attend anger management classes, which didn’t happen.  

According to Professor Susan Booysen , "He is 40 years younger than the current ANC leadership. If he doesn't burn himself out, there is a good chance he will have a political future," she said.

There is a lot of fractions within the ANC as the race to Mangaung continues and it may just appear that the ousting of Malema was another strategy to get rid and silence him as he sometimes said

"We know that undemocratic processes are those that are intolerant to different views, those that use state power to deal with those that disagree," Malema said.

Real men don't rape

The recent report of the young woman that was raped in Soweto has sparked a debate amongst communities as to who’s role and responsibility is it to raise 'real men '.

 Boys are permitted some sexual license and knowledge about sex but they are rarely provided with the information, counsel or guidance on issues of sexuality that they need.


“A young woman has more chances of being raped than reading a book “.This was said by rape survivor Jess Foord, at the International Woman’s Day that was held at and Diakonia Council of Churches.

This is a sad reality for a lot of us young woman who will be mothers one day. One would think that as men were built strong, in physic their role would to protect ,to guard ,to secure a woman .But this was not the case with the young woman from Soweto, instead it was ‘minors ' that had participated. It was boys that she probably considers to be her ‘little’ brothers that did this act.
 City Press editor Natasha Joseph  said in an article (What makes our young men brutal monsters?) ,” It’s far easier to speculate about what’s wrong with women than to ask hard questions about what we’re doing to create so many monsters out of so many men”.

Bheki Cele should be fired

The probing of suspended police chief Bheki Cele is just one example of what stand to happen should the Protection of Information  Bill pass.

Cele is not the first official holding a high seat to be on the wrong side of the law on allegations of misconduct .First it was Jack Selebi also was a commissioner of police and now Cele.  What seems to be striking about these two is that they both held positions where they are to protect and serve the people in South Africa .Had it not been for the media freedom that still exists at the present moment such information would have not made it to the public.

The POIB is meant to protect ‘state security ‘and the department of police is one on those departments that will have such powers to classify information. Without media freedom the media will be the voice of the government and without diversity the media will be a voice for the enterprise.

Communication must be universal and users must be able to access information anytime anywhere. Stories like these would have never made it to the front pages as ‘comrades ‘would be protecting each other just like they have been doing when allocating positions to each other where some were not fit or qualified for such positions.

The breaking in at Intelligent Ministers home should not be an excuse for the PIOB

The breaking in that occurred at the house belonging to the Intelligent Minister’s  home where laptops containing sensitive information were stolen is a cry for concern .But this should in no way become an emphasising motive to push forward the introducing of the Protection of Information Bill.

Understanding  that state information should be kept safe and secure and  the theft that  happened is evident that more security measures should be in place for such incidents .The PIB is not the way as more than the ‘sensitive information ‘ will be protected .

Understanding that the bill seeks to balance, it is not everything that requires protection, as South African citizens we are being made to believe that only valuable ‘information such as ID numbers, bank accounts details and preventing fraudulent marriages is the reason why this bill is being introduced. Everyone is certain that state information must be protected but we must ensure that this Bill has very limited application, only to the state security institutions such as the intelligence unit and that there is a public interest override.

The new proposal of the General Intelligent Bill is another bill that should be review properly. Our government should be transparent and as citizens of this country we must ensure that our rights to know are not infringed.

Only a handful of African counties, seven out of 54 have adopted national access to information laws. This law that is being proposed is challenged by all members of civil society  and those in favour of it is because they haven’t read it and understood it to the core.

Let's seek out to protect our rights; conferred by the Constitution, one of the best in the world, South Africa has always been respected because of it.