New Age2.png Demagogue! Julius Malema is a Threat to Freedom Peter Ramothwala, The New Age, Johannesburg, 5 February 2016 The demagoguery of Julius Malema is "dangerous" and bad for our democracy. This is the general view expressed after the EFF leader banned journalists from The New Age from the party's events. "We cannot guarantee the safety of those who are working for The New Age and ANN7," he said at a press conference in Johannesburg. ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said EFF's decision not to welcome journalists has a direct attack on the Constitution, Bill of Rights and democracy. "We warn South Africans to be worried about such leaders who incite violence. We have made significant progress on media freedom and freedom of expression, and the utterances undermine our Constitution," Kodwa said. The South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) called for a strong stance against what it termed an attack on the Constitution and media freedom. "We call on the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) and all community media to respond to this threat with a solidarity news blackout and boycott of EFF events until the vile threat that undermines freedom of the press is withdrawn," Sanco national spokesperson Jabu Mahlangu said. Mahlangu suggested that a threat of this nature might endanger lives of journalists and urged the IEC to take action against the party. COSATU president Sdumo Dlamini has condemned the banning of ANN7 and The New Age newspaper journalists at the EFF's future events. "If it is true that they are banning journalists in areas that they believe are controlled by the Guptas, they would be making a mistake. If the EFF claims to represent the interests of workers, they should not be forgetting workers," Dlamini said. "All freedom-loving democrats in South Africa should condemn the leader of the EFF for his utterances and threats against the staff of The New Age and TV channel ANN7, editor-in-chief Moegsien Williams said yesterday. "Malema, as an MP who has sworn to uphold the Constitution, has violated the constitutional rights of the reporters on several issues. Apart from trampling on their dignity, he threatened violence against them. This is in flagrant breach of clause 12 of the Bill of Rights relating to the freedom and security of the person. "He will also have to explain his actions when he is required to bind himself to the IEC's electoral code of conduct. Parties are required to commit to a set of rules that among other things, states candidates 'must speak out against political violence and threats against other parties, the IEC, members of the public and the media'," Williams said. "In his diatribe, Malema failed to take into account the need for the free exchange of ideas and views, which is the role of journalists, who should be allowed to operate in an environment where they are not operating under threat of violence. "Malema reminds me of the American demagogue and presidential hopeful Donald Trump who wants to ban Muslims from the US and evicts journalists from his events," Williams said. City Press editor Ferial Haffajee said the EFF was entitled to have opinions on owners but should allow journalists to do their work without fear. "It is unacceptable for any political party to intimidate journalists; publicly state that they cannot guarantee their safety," Haffajee tweeted. The SANEF said it was unacceptable for any political party to intimidate journalists and to publicly state that they could not guarantee the safety of journalists. "SANEF notes with concern the dangerous remarks made by EFF leader Julius Malema threatening journalists employed by ANN7 and The New Age. "It is unacceptable for any political party to intimidate journalists and to publicly state that they cannot guarantee their safety. The EFF is entitled to its views about media owners but should allow journalists to conduct their work without fear," Sanef said. <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] From: <http://tnaepaper.co.za/DRIVE/main%20edition/05022016/epaperpdf/1.pdf> http://tnaepaper.co.za/DRIVE/main%20edition/05022016/epaperpdf/1.pdf -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
