Court ruling upholds freedom of speech

NPA advocate Vusi Pikoli bit the dust when he attempted to block the M&G from publishing an article on the embattled National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi and his relationship with Glen Agglioti, Brett Kebble's alleged assassin.

The gag order was dismissed by Judge Hilton Epstein in the Joburg High Court with costs.

"I suspect that he [Pikoli] rushed to court to put the distance between his organisation and the leak. For political reasons, he wanted to show that he was trying to stop the leak and its publication, even knowing that he was likely to lose," the Wits academic said.

Since the NPA's defeat, Pikoli has accused the media of interfering with sensitive investigations and jeopardising the 'good relationship' between the Scorpions and other security agencies. But Prof Harber is unfazed by Pikoli's accusations, saying that those who are aggrieved by the media should stop going to court and find other ways to deal with the problem.

Rights

Na'eem Jeenah, Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) head of Anti-Censorship Programme, said: "Essentially, the judge found that the article was in the public interest. Therefore, the stature and power of the NPA were irrelevant in this case and did not in any way influence the judge in making his ruling.

"The courts are willing to uphold the right of the media to publish and the right of the public to know whenever the matter affects their lives," Jeenah said, adding that this is the third such application against the M&G this year and none has succeeded.
It has been a difficult year for the South African free-thinking press - the M&G's three courts cases and ANC Deputy-President Jacob Zuma's threats to sue the media for 'defamation' are some examples of this showdown.

Prof Harber said the show must go on, regardless of these difficulties: "People are entitled to use the courts and criticise the media even if creates difficulties for us. Actually we are pretty free to do our job, so let's just get on with it," he remarked.

Concerned

But the FXI remains concerned about the increase of incidents by people and institutions trying to silence the media at all costs. "It is indeed a matter of great concern that politicians and state departments resort so easily to the courts to silence the media. Not only such actions cost the media dearly financially, it also costs the media in terms of being able to publish in a timely fashion - something which is crucial for media survival," FXI's Jeenah said.

While some financially-capable media organisations might try to fight off these legal challenges, Jeenah said that this trend becomes problematic for the less fortunate institutions such as community media. "As a result," he emphasised, "many such media prefer to exercise self-censorship rather than face the possibility of bankruptcy. And this is a very worrying development for media freedom and freedom of expression more generally in SA."

Furthermore, Pikoli appealed to the media to stop conducting their own 'harmful' investigations, and rely on his organisation's information.

Prof Harber had the following piece of advice for those who seek to gag the media. "I urge them to be more accepting of the implications and consequences of having a free media. It can be more frustrating and irritating, but the benefits far outweigh this. They must think about their long-term relationship with the media, rather than rushing to court pointlessly," he said.

Both Harber and Jeenah said that media freedom should be higher on the agendas of continental institutions such as African Union, Pan African Parliament and African Commission on Human and People's Rights.

Jeenah also said that African journalists must support each other as much as they can in these difficult times.