The Independent Democrats and the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) added their voices on Wednesday to those condemning Parliament’s moves to evict the media from their offices in the institution.
ID leader Patricia de Lille said the party was ”shocked” by the moves.
”This proposal is in contravention of an agreement that was reached at the end of last year between Parliament and members of the media. (The) ID would definitely not support the removal of the press from Parliament,” De Lille said.
”The media play a vital role in the functioning of our democracy and the ID believes that it is important for them to have immediate access to Parliament.”
Parliament represented all political parties and a decision as important as this should be thoroughly discussed and agreed on with all of them.
”We would therefore call on the new Speaker of Parliament to reconsider this decision until comprehensive consultation takes place with all political parties in Parliament,” De Lille said.
IPI director Johann Fritz said he was extremely surprised at Parliament’s decision.
”I thought an agreement had been made last year when the PGA relinquished some of its office space. The decision to relocate the offices some five to ten minutes from the Parliament will make the media’s working more difficult. I have also been told that there are safety issues concerning the office’s location,” he said.
If the media were to have an oversight role in South African society, they had to be given proper access to Parliament.
Fritz said the increase in the ANC’s majority after the elections apparently necessitated additional space.
”I think, however, there is a deeper reason: the size of the ANC’s majority means it no longer needs to worry about the media. As a result, the ANC is prepared to exclude the media from the parliamentary process.
”Given the historical relationship between Parliament and the media, I think this is a retrograde step that calls into question the present government’s support for the free flow of information and open government,” said Fritz.
Earlier on Wednesday, journalists based at Parliament each received a notice warning them to vacate their offices in the Old Assembly and New Wing buildings by noon on Friday, or face eviction ”without further notice or delay”.
The eviction notices were hand delivered by a parliamentary official; most reporters in the institution’s Press Gallery refused to sign for the document.
Efforts by Parliament’s administrators to move journalists out of the precincts to alternative offices — a block away, outside Parliament’s security perimeter — have been going on for well over a year.
Last week, in a letter sent to the Parliamentary Press Gallery Association (PGA), Parliament’s secretary Sindiso Mfenyana warned if journalists did not move then ”the State Attorney will be instructed to apply to the High Court for an eviction order without further notice or delay”.
The PGA — which represents journalists at Parliament — has strongly condemned the latest efforts to have its members evicted, saying this flies in the face of an agreement reached with the authorities last year.
”Parliamentary reporters have long resisted the secretary’s plan to move us out of the Parliamentary buildings to an unsafe building outside the immediate precincts, and we continue to oppose such a move as it will seriously hamper our work,” the PGA said in a statement earlier this week.
A senior parliamentary official was reported on Wednesday to have denied Parliament had an agreement with the PGA allowing its members to keep their offices within the complex.
Meanwhile, journalists are bracing for possible eviction on Friday, with many saying they will not be moved. – Sapa