Time to see sense - 23 Aug 2010

The giant world media bodies WAN-IFRA and the WEF have joined many others in the fight against media repression in South Africa - one of the few countries on the continent with any respect for the freedom of information. The organisations have addressed a joint open letter to President Jacob Zuma urging him to ensure the Protection of Information Bill and the Media Appeals Tribunal proposal are amended or disregarded altogether. Numerous media and civil rights organisations as well as businesses have spoken out, condemning the proposed legislation as unconstitutional, but to little avail as the ruling party have yet to show any signs of seeing sense.

So what will it take if letters and statements from far and wide are not enough to convince the South African government that these laws are unacceptable? Do we have to gather our placards and march to the doors of Parliament and toyi-toyi (which ironically enough originates from Zimbabwe)? And why exactly is South Africa still fighting for a free press? Did we not already win this battle with the fall of apartheid? The relationship between the state and media has certainly gone awry, but muzzling the media by brute force is certainly not the way to fix anything. Instead of focusing on the problem, let's come up with solid solutions and turn this potentially disastrous frown, upside down!