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On October 19, 1977, the apartheid government of South Africa banned Le Monde and Weekend World and arrested the newspaper’s editor, Percy Kobosa. For the truthA Christian newspaper was also banned.
This day is named Black Wednesday The commemoration is held every year. It is an opportunity to assess the state of press freedom in the country.
South Africa has made great strides in press freedom and freedom of expression since the end of apartheid. The situation today is very different from the apartheid era.
Freedom of speech is deeply rooted in the country constitution The law provides for “freedom of the press and other media”. It also provides for the right to access information.
Legislation, such as promoting access Information Law These constitutional rights have been enacted. It provides for the right to access any information held by the state or privately. It actually means The act provides information to the media about how the government operates.
This in turn is likely to have an impact on elections and thus have significant consequences for democracies. statement:
Access to information is essential for accurate reporting and, in turn, for delivering accurate information to the public.
In contrast to the secretive apartheid system, the Promotion of Access to Information Act promotes a culture of responsive, transparent and accountable government.
While this may sound impressive, the reality is that it is not. Press freedom rankingsReasons for the decline include the media being slow to get information and often hampered by bureaucracy. Only in a few cases Information access applications lead to full disclosure of information.
While there is reason to celebrate the improvement in press freedom in some southern African countries, South Africans also have reason to be concerned. Press Freedom Report South Africa was listed as one of the countries with the biggest decline in press freedom, falling four places. South Africa is now considered only “partly free”.
Progress so far
In 2015 World Press Freedom IndexSouthern Africa was ranked as the second best region in the world in terms of media environment improvement. Namibia This is a real success story.
In other parts of Africa Ghana Still performing well (although rankings have dropped). West AfricaCountries such as Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo have shown encouraging progress.
Another survey by Freedom House shows that 2015 Press Freedom ReportSouth Africa ranks 39th out of 180 countries, and within Africa it ranks below Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, Mauritius, Ghana and Namibia.
Therefore, while press freedom improved overall in Southern Africa in 2015, South Africa’s decline in the ranking is worrying.
Can you express your ideas freely?
Black Wednesday 2014 Memorial Lecture President Jacob Zuma stressed that “the country is run by a government led by a leader who fought for these rights” and therefore should be trusted to “never take away the right of our people to express themselves.”
But the ANC government proved that simply being a liberation party does not exempt it from responsibility for violating the rights of others. Afrobarometer Research shows that people who say they feel free to express themselves report lower levels of corruption and better government performance.
South Africa has shown that high levels of government corruption can be equated with reduced press freedom to cover up corruption. An example is the use of legislation apartheid-era news coverage to prevent any critical reporting on the use of public funds for President Zuma’s private residence. strongThis is in stark contradiction to Zuma’s 2014 speech.
Controversial National Information Protection Act It also poses a threat to access to information. The Act, better known as the Secrets Act, provides for up to 25 years in prison for leaking state secrets.
Another blow to free speech is proposal Films and publications board Regulate online content.
But most saddening is the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s open bias against the ruling African National Congress. For example, it refuses to allow political advertising Opposition and instructed journalists not to ask Zuma problem.
The Liberation Party has forgotten its roots
The challenge facing South Africa is that the government is slowly changing from a liberation party to a threat to democracy.
A mediocre democracy would be happy to be rated “partly free” on media freedom. But that would not be consistent with the strong democracy that many have fought for in South Africa.
As the nation commemorates Black Wednesday and celebrates press freedom, South Africans would do well not to forget the price paid for that freedom and the work that needs to be done to preserve it.
If the South African government continues to tread on its morass of corruption and censorship, it will only be a matter of time before its “partly free” media freedom status degenerates into “not free” – just as it did during apartheid.
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