The government remains “fully committed” to media freedom as enshrined in the Constitution, President Jacob Zuma said on Friday.
He welcomed the letters received from various media groupings locally and internationally, raising their concerns about the Protection of Information Bill and the ruling party’s proposed media appeals tribunal, the Presidency said in a statement.
He welcomed the inputs made to the debate in the public arena and also in Parliament at public hearings, which indicated the “vibrancy of South African society”.
“We respect the Constitution of our country; we fought hard for it to be as progressive and as exemplary as it is.
“This Bill will not undermine the spirit of the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution, and we wish to assure the media houses in that regard”, he said.
The Bill was intended to “improve the security of the state with regard to the work of counter-espionage and information-peddling, among other things”.
Media comments and letters on the media appeals tribunal had been forwarded to the ANC, he said.
‘Tense’ talks
On Thursday, the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) held “tense” talks with the ANC in Johannesburg about the proposed media appeals tribunal.
“It was quite a tough engagement,” said Sanef chairperson Mondli Makhanya. “I will use the words, ‘very robust’. We did have tense moments.”
He said Sanef explained to the ANC, represented by spokesperson Jackson Mthembu and secretary general Gwede Mantashe, that a panel had been set up to look at how the self-regulation mechanism of the press ombudsman could be improved.
At the same time, the Press Council was conducting its own probe into how it could strengthen itself.
“The response [from the ANC] was that the media appeals tribunal is not a done deal,” said Makhanya.
Also, discussions on the tribunal at the ANC’s upcoming National General Council would “not be the be-all and end-all”, said Makhanya.
“What was important was that we moved from the language of, ‘It will happen without a doubt’, to that they are willing to listen,” said Makhanya. “We were not going to get firm commitments out of the first meeting.”
‘Constructive’
Mthembu confirmed that it was decided more discussions should take place between the ANC and Sanef.
“Our view is that the talks were very constructive. We are looking forward to more engagements in future,” he said after the meeting.
He said Sanef gave the ANC “details” of its thoughts around strengthening the self-regulatory mechanism.
“We will be looking at what they proposed,” said Mthembu. “We have a view that we need a media appeals tribunal, and if there are other means that can be factored in to make such a call redundant, so be it, but that is dependent on the discussions between ourselves.” — Sapa