Three media organisations have expressed their opposition to the serving of a subpoena on political reporter Ranjeni Munusamy in an attempt to force her to give evidence before the Hefer Commission and testify on the spy allegations against National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka.
The South African National Editors’ Forum, the Freedom of Expression Institute and the SA Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, said in a statement on Wednesday they are “totally” opposed to journalists being questioned about their confidential sources of information.
Munusamy recently resigned from the Sunday Times after admitting that she had passed on documents to the City Press showing Ngcuka had been investigated by the African National Congress for allegedly spying for the apartheid government. The Hefer Commission was set up by President Thabo Mbeki to investigate these claims.
Munusamy would not comment about whether she was going to evidence before the commission on Thursday afternoon, saying her lawyers were still exploring various possibilities.
The Sowetan newspaper quoted Munusamy earlier this week as saying that she would refuse to testify before the commission.
“I don’t plan to testify either way. I am refusing to do so because of the normal journalistic principle of protection of sources taking precedence over everything else,” Munusamy reportedly said.
In their statement, the media organisations pointed out that “compulsion on a journalist to testify, provide information, hand over material or reveal his or her confidential sources of information violates the constitutional right to freedom of expression and freedom of the media, coupled with the freedom to receive or impart information and ideas”.
“By compelling journalists to testify, confidential sources of information inevitably dry up as people lose trust in the media’s promises of confidentiality and come to fear that providing information could result in their being identified or being brought before a court of law.”
The organisations called on the Hefer Commission to withdraw the subpoena and for the state, judicial and quasi-judicial bodies to respect and uphold media freedom as a cornerstone of democracy.