The City of Durban has censored a satirical poster that suggests President Jacob Zuma will roll out a million climate change jobs.
Amandla! magazine distributed the poster in line with the Global Day of Action march, due to take place on December 3.
The magazine’s cultural editor Andre Marais lashed out at the city’s decision. He said: “The South African government promotes itself as a defender of human rights and freedom of expression. But when their international visitors are in town they don’t think twice about censoring material that might embarrass the president.”
The censorships falls on the backdrop of heated debate on the Protection of State Information Bill that currently sits before the National Council of Provinces for deliberation.
City officials on Wednesday told Amandla! that the poster looked “too much like a slogan”, suggesting more acceptable text for the poster.
The poster was distributed to coincide with the COP17 climate change conference underway in Durban.
Marais added: “Given the South African COP17 negotiation teams promotion of develop countries’ market ‘solutions’ to climate change — it remains unclear whether Zuma’s government will support detailed civil society proposals to create a million climate change jobs in South Africa.”
The passing of the Protection of State Information Bill came as no surprise, raising the threat to media freedom. View our special report.
