The African National Congress on Thursday rejected suggestions the party is behind moves to evict journalists from their offices in the parliamentary precincts.
ANC spokesperson in Parliament Cuba Mahaye said the party believes there is a serious question about office space in Parliament.
The ANC’s view is that all parties involved should negotiate the issue to reach an amicable solution acceptable to all.
Mahaye objected to a statement by Vienna-based International Press Institute director Johann Fritz on Wednesday, in which he suggested 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,” Fritz said.
Mahaye pointed out that the ANC has nothing at all to do with the issue of allocating office space in Parliament.
It is an administrative issue, solely in the hands of parliamentary officials, he said.
Also on Thursday, National Assembly Speaker Frene Ginwala, thought by some to be driving the moves, said she was unaware of “any intention or policy directive” to deny media access to Parliament. It would in any event be unconstitutional.
The issue is one of relocating the media offices “from one building to another 170m away”, she said in a statement.
The preference of any one group for particular space cannot be prioritised over the “overall needs for the institution of Parliament to function optimally”.
Regarding the compromise agreement the Parliamentary Press Gallery (PGA) reached with the authorities last year, Ginwala said she “first read” about it in January this year.
Ginwala said she has asked the PGA for a copy of the agreement “they claim” to have made with Parliament’s secretary, Sindiso Mfenyana.
In terms of that agreement, the PGA gave up 10 of its offices on condition it could retain the other 16.
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 letters were hand-delivered by a parliamentary official. Most reporters in the institution’s press gallery refused to sign for the documents.
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 more than a year.
Last week, a letter sent to the PGA by 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”. — Sapa
‘Media need proper access to Parliament’