Maybe it’s time for Cele to take some responsibility

It takes a real strong man to hit a woman, acclaimed songstress Nianell sang back in 2004, and in case you’re missing it, the sarcasm is strong with this one.

On Tuesday, two men believed The Citizen photographer Tracy Lee Stark and journalist Marizka Coetzer posed such a threat to them that they assaulted Stark and smashed Coetzer’s phone.

Brave men, indeed.

Those thugs took the memory of Brendin Horner and ground it into the dirt. Because it’s the violence everyone is talking about, not the brutal murder of the 22-year-old farm manager just starting his life.

The utter failure of the South African Police Service to plan appropriately for the protest, which saw more than 1 000 people in attendance, is also astounding.

It’s not as if the protest wasn’t broadcast far and wide and people came from South Africa’s four corners to attend.

And they were angry, everyone knew this. But, hey, what were a few farmers and their families and friends going to do? Right.

And the police did nothing to protect property and people. It’s a theme journalists face around the world, daily.

Beaten, jailed, murdered, hacked apart and brutalised by governments, officials and civilians trying to hide their crimes. This is the price of your news.

And as we remember those within our corps we’ve lost or who have been attacked or imprisoned for no reason other than to shut them up, we will never stop reporting fair, balanced and accurate news.

Of course, sometimes we get it wrong, horribly wrong. And for those media houses who subscribe to the Press Council or the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of SA, there is little more embarrassing than having to issue a correction or, more seriously, retract an article.

It’s humiliating and every day we strive to prevent it. Those media houses which don’t subscribe to controlling bodies, personally, I would handle with long tongs.

What happened in Free State town of Senekal happens at so many protests, but you’ll rarely hear about it because we choose not to be the story. But this time, we’re not letting it go.

Journalists have been stoned, threatened with their lives and if the pen is mightier than the sword, then it’s time we started telling our stories. The International Organisation of Journalists has been fighting for the rights of journalists since 1926 and has some horror stories on its site.

The burning of police vehicles and property, stone-throwing, the bodies of protesters killed, and the message of whatever the protest was about becomes lost, buried in paragraph four, if it’s lucky.

And of course, Police Minister Bheki Cele has thrown his toys out the cot, except it is his office which ultimately must bear the responsibility for Tuesday’s action. Protest violence is overcome by having vastly superior numbers to ensure public safety.

I don’t know what the police were thinking. And it’s his fault the court was damaged and our journalists were assaulted and their property damaged.

Minister, you owe us and the country an apology for shoddy planning.

Take responsibility for once.

Amanda Watson.

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