Darkening Rainbow

The Times: 20 August 2010

There are bleak historical resonances in South Africa’s assault on Press freedoms


In staging the World Cup, South Africa sought the world’s attention and admiration. It achieved both of these ambitions: the smoothly administrated tournament was a triumph for South Africa’ standing in the world and for its self-confidence at home.

But having asked for the world’s scrutiny, South Africa should not be allowed to hide from it now. The ANC government is planning to restrict the freedom of the Press and enhance its ability to intimidate the media. South Africa hoped that the World Cup would represent a coming of age. Just six weeks later, the optimistic mood has been overshadowed by fears that the country is regressing to the abuses of a darker era.

Raymond Louw, who once edited the country’s leading anti-apartheid newspaper, has argued that the assault on Press freedom is ‘worse than anything under apartheid. There are two main strands. The ‘Information Bill’ proposal would permit any head of a state body to declare anything of their choosing to be a government secret. Even possession of such information, let alone reporting it, could carry a punishment of up to 25 years. In addition, the Government plans a new media tribunal with powers to imprison journalists and impose crippling fines.

The motivation of this illiberal tranche of policies reveals a great deal about the ANC. It was the rivalry between Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma that encouraged the Press to abandon its reverential reporting of the ANC. But having delighted in the Press’s criticism of Mr Mbeki, Mr Zuma --- whose polygamous and adulterous lifestyle is an easy target --- has quickly tired of it in office. The South African Broadcasting Corporation has been told to carry no more interviews with Mr Mbeki as they undermine the Zuma Government.

It is true that the South African Press has not been blameless. They have made some serious factual mistakes. But the ANC is attacking is attacking the media for what it is doing right, not what it is doing wrong. Reports consistently demonstrate that corruption, even at ministerial level, is now almost an open arrangement, with state contracts often allocated to favoured bidders who then pay back-handers. This month a journalist at South Africa’s Sunday Times was arrested after he wrote an article critical of the national police chief.

The ANC is beginning to fear that the Press now threatens its prospects in municipal elections. The Government’s corruption and the five-star lifestyle of its ministers is so endemic that it is curbing the Government’s ability to provide the basic infrastructure and social services that it promises at every election. Attacking the media also provides a rare unifying thread for the ANC. Its disparate groups of communists, nationalists and unionists can agree on little else apart from that the media is the common enemy.

The ANC’s war with the media has already prompted international opprobrium. This week the US Ambassador expressed his dismay at the proposed laws. But the most damning indictment resides at home, where even formerly optimistic voices admit that they are even more depressed than ever before.

If South Africa abandons its protection of essential constitutional liberties, it is gambling with its democratic future and undermining the principles that sustained its historic fight against apartheid.