EFF opposes Sanef’s court challenge as attempt to silence them

In the wake of the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) approaching the Equality Court in Gauteng in an attempt to interdict EFF leader Julius Malema and his supporters from threatening journalists, the party has responded to say they will be opposing it.

Spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said Sanef was attempting to “silence the truth” and stop them from “challenging certain media personalities and journalists”.

He said Sanef was launching a sick, self-preoccupied attempt to suppress” criticism of the media.

The party again named a number of journalists to whom they were opposed for allegedly being a pro-Pravin Gordhan “media gang”.

Ndlozi denied that the EFF had called for violence against journalists, and it was the EFF itself who had instead been targeted unfairly by the press.

Read the statement below:

Sanef wants the court to interdict Malema and his party from:

• Intimidating, harassing, threatening, or assaulting any journalist;
• Publishing personal information of any journalist;
• Expressly or tacitly endorsing the intimidation and harassment of journalists by supporters or followers on social media or on public platforms;
• Expressly or tacitly endorsing the publication of personal information by supporters or followers on public platforms or on social media.

The body, which represents editors and senior journalists from a variety of South African publications, is “seeking the protection of journalists and ultimately of media freedom as a whole in the wake of sustained intimidation and threats against journalists by EFF leader Julius Malema and his supporters”.

“Sanef accepts that the political discourse in SA is robust and that the media may legitimately be criticised on public platforms, yet the social media messages by members of the EFF leadership and its supporters has now crossed the boundaries of professional criticism,” the statement continued.

According to Sanef, these messages amount to “harmful incitement” and are “demeaning and dangerous”.

They say they “didn’t take this decision to institute legal action lightly” and would have preferred the “South African way of resolving disputes around a table”, but went the legal route after attempts at meeting with the party and its leaders were unsuccessful.

READ MORE: Sanef to seek urgent meeting with EFF over Malema’s threats to journalists

The body released a statement in November saying the party had refused to meet with them.

“Although the party agreed to meet with several private companies lately, the EFF has declined to meet Sanef before the national general elections scheduled for May 2019. This has forced Sanef to approach the courts,” the statement said.

The organisation claimed Malema’s utterances had exposed journalists and the media to “abuse, intimidation, harassment, and hate speech”

“Women journalists, in particular, have borne the brunt of an avalanche of insults levelled against them, particularly on social media,” the statement notes.

“Journalists who report critically on the EFF have been called ‘wh*res’, ‘w*tches’, ‘b*tches’, and ‘c*nts’, and calls have been made for them to be raped and attacked by staunch EFF supporters,” it continues.

The organisation said EFF supporters had also called for the killing of journalists, and the party’s “silence” on this “barrage of hatred has been deafening”.

READ MORE: EFF refuses to meet Sanef over attacks on journalists

Sanef hopes the court will direct Malema and his party to “publicly denounce the harassment and abuse of journalists and to call on their supporters to cease intimidating and threatening journalists”.

“Sanef is also asking for an apology from Mr. Malema and the EFF to the individual journalists who have been targeted as well as to journalists in general, coupled with a recognition of the constitutionally protected role played by journalists in our society,” the statement continued.

The body said they were “gravely concerned” about the “weaponisation of social media and the chilling effect” this may have in potentially silencing a generation of journalists from reporting on the EFF.

The statement continues to list the proper legal challenges those who are aggrieved by a story should go through, noting that the media is “not beyond reproach”.

“We encourage South Africans to approach the BCCSA, the Press Council, or seek their own legal remedies should they feel that stories published or broadcast about them or their organisations are not accurate and truthful and have not given them a right of reply among other issues.”

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)

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