/ 19 December 2017

Security battle media at #ANC54

Liar
Ramaphosa said the ANC wanted government to start farmer support programmes. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Police and security have revoked the accreditation of Bloomberg journalist and SA National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) representative Sam Mkokeli from the ANC’s 54th elective conference after he raised a complaint about the party’s treatment of journalists.

In response to Mkokeli’s removal from the conference, some journalists staged a walkout to boycott ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa’s briefing with the media.

The incident took place on Tuesday afternoon. Initially, journalists were told that Ramaphosa would be doing a walkabout in the Progressive Business Forum centre at Nasrec, where a number of big business groups have exhibition stalls.

The ANC said that journalists would be shuttled to the walkabout instead of being allowed through a fence that separates media workers from the larger part of the centre reserved for ANC delegates. Walking through the fenced off region is theoretically quicker and would not disrupt the ANC’s plenary sessions, which take place in an indoor hall.

After waiting for a shuttle to arrive, Mkokeli held a meeting with journalists where he proposed that the walkabout be boycotted because of the long periods journalists have been made to wait for briefings at the conference. Every journalist agreed with the proposal.

The ANC then acquiesced when journalists requested that the fence be opened. One security official, however, remarked: “I don’t know democracy, I only know security,” when the complaint was made.

Once on the other side of the fence, journalists were taken to where Ramaphosa greeted people selling ANC merchandise inside the Nasrec centre. Ramaphosa then proceeded to the Progressive Business Forum (PBF) exhibition where he shook hands with representatives from Vodacom, Multichoice and other businesses.

But journalists were told that only cameramen would be allowed access to the walkabout inside the business forum. Writers, anchors, and other media teams who had got their visuals of Ramaphosa from inside this space patiently waited outside for him to give a brief statement. It was a doorstop briefing, which meant that Ramaphosa would likely speak for less than five minutes and then leave without taking questions from journalists.

But after an hour, Ramaphosa had still not come outside to make his remarks.

In that time Mkokeli again raised a complaint about the way journalists had been treated at the conference. It is then that security removed his accreditation and forcefully evicted him from the Nasrec.

Mkokeli tweeted at the time that he feared he was being arrested.

Shoeshoe Qhu, a journalist with Kaya FM, recorded the incident where a plainclothes policeman from the SAPS VIP protection unit can be seen manhandling Mkokeli and then forcefully pushing him outside Gate 5, while other SAPS officers watch.

PowerFM host Iman Rappetti attempted to intervene on Mkokeli’s behalf, asking police why they had revoked his accreditation.

Back at the business forum, the Mail & Guardian asked ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa why Mkokeli had been removed from Nasrec. Kodwa called an official but was unable to provide further clarity.

Journalists have since been raising a series of complaints with the ANC officials, including how one journalist with prosthetic legs was pushed so hard by security during the results announcement on Monday night, that his prosthetic had come loose. The journalist had tried to explain that he had physical challenges and could not move as quickly as the security had demanded.

At least two other journalists related how security had threatened to remove their accreditation when delegates approached them to speak. Many of these journalists included other women media workers.

Other complaints include journalists being forced to sit on the floor during the announcements and having their movement strictly limited inside the Nasrec expo centre.

Security at the ANC conference have said they will follow-up on what transpired. Sanef chair Mahlatse Gallens meanwhile said that the complaints raised by journalists would be discussed with the ANC.