The South African National Editors Forum (Sanef), headed by Sunday Times editor Mathatha Tsedu, is to seek an urgent meeting with National Assembly Speaker Frene Ginwala over an impasse over parliamentary press office space.
A stand-off has developed after Ginwala demanded on Monday that the media represented in parliament — including political and economic correspondents from a variety of news groups — start evacuating their offices. The offices have been used by the media since about the 1930s.
Tsedu said in a statement that, noting the current pressure on members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery Association to move their offices off the grounds of Parliament, the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has requested an urgent meeting with Ginwala and National Council of Provinces chairperson Naledi Pandor to discuss the issue.
The presiding officers of parliament have argued that the space is needed for parliamentary staff, including legal and Hansard — the official minutes of the two houses.
Tsedu said: “We (the editors) have been approached by the PGA with their concerns and their alternative proposals to the projected relocation, and understand that they are holding a special general meeting tomorrow (Thursday).”
“As Sanef, we are concerned that hostility is rising over this issue, and hope to make this urgent intervention to de-escalate the tensions.”
The secretary to Parliament, Sindiso Mfenyana, said the PGA had been asked to meet him in order to discuss the relocation since November 2002 and the PGA had consistently refused to be involved in such a meeting. The PGA has denied this saying that the secretary had been mandated simply to smooth the move, rather than to negotiate with them.
Mfenyana added that contrary to recent statements about Parliament seeking to compromise media freedom, “the intention is to extend such freedom”.
The media will no longer be under the wing of Parliament as in the past”. In addition, he said, new forms of media, such as radio and local newspapers “will enjoy access to press room facilities that allow the media to reach a broader constituency”.
Parliament proposes to move the bulk of the media into a building across the road, a building deemed unsuitable by gallery members as it is cut off from the flow of parliamentarians and, they argue, will inhibit access to the media. – I-Net Bridge