FXI condemns M&G gag order
BREAKING NEWS: “After two attempts by the SABC to obtain court interdicts this week, the SABC's legal head Mafika Sihlali succeeded where his employer failed.” So said the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) in a press statement issued today, Friday, 20 July 2007. “Last night's gag order was granted against the Mail & Guardian (M&G), Media 24 ‘or any other person', which appears both vague and overbroad,” continues the FXI.
According to the FXI, the order by Pretoria High Court Judge Lettie Molopa is an indictment of the judiciary's commitment to press freedom and exemplifies how judicial distrust of media practices and anticipation of catastrophic results have combined to prevent coverage of a matter of great pubic concern.
The M&G was prevented from publishing the details of an explosive report into alleged corruption, abuse of power and intimidation at the SABC, in a week during which, ironically, the SABC was widely condemned for having fought for a year to suppress the screening of the innocuous Mbeki documentary.
