TO uphold democracy, it is essential to respect media freedom and pluralism and to safeguard freedom of expression.
This includes the right to receive and impart information without interference by public authorities. However, when these ideals are disregarded, editorial freedom is compromised.
A clear reference to the importance of media freedom and why it should not be compromised by those in power was brought to the fore in 2022 when the Independent Media was forced to forge ahead with its legal battle against the State Security Agency (SSA) to get a suspiciously classified intelligence report declassified and laid bare for its readers.
This was after the SSA rushed to court in December 2021 to interdict Independent Media, and myself as a journalist who had written the article – effectively using the court to prevent the publishing of a leaked intelligence report revealing that the ANC leaders were working as spies for the US intelligence, and influencing policy direction in favour of the US.
This marked the beginning of a two-year-long court battle between the state and the Independent Media, with the publication successfully challenging the SSA at the Supreme Court of Appeal which ruled in favour of the media house.
The government’s actions were clear evidence of abusing power to conceal wrongdoing by those involved with the US intelligence.
For two years, the case had a profound psychological impact on me and my work as a reporter. I witnessed silent violence and experienced threats, which, among other things, pushed me to anxiety as I had to spend hours with our lawyers focusing on the best way to win the case and ensure that readers got to know what their leaders were doing.
This was a stark reminder that reporting on sensitive topics can put journalists at risk.
The agency’s use of the court to impose a severe restriction on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom hurt me as there were also threats of prosecution against me, which disrupted my ability to not only hold the authorities accountable but also my family.
I always heard stories about targeting the press merely for doing its job through the misuse of the justice system to silence journalists and critics and clampdown on the freedom of the media, but the thought that a journalist could experience the same never crossed my mind until I was subjected to the same kind of censorship and harassment by the SSA.
The intelligence report showed how the US was able to infiltrate the ANC using certain leaders. As a result, the US was able to use the leaders to change the policy direction in favour of the US.
Advancing its arguments, the SSA said at the time that the sharing of the intelligence was part of a broader collaboration with the US, and if such a report was made public, their working relationship would be compromised.
In my responding affidavit, I shot down the argument by the SSA and argued that the reason for the classification of the report was nefarious.
I accepted that the state has the authority to classify documents but understood that it may only do so in furtherance of its duties to preserve the peace, secure the well-being of the people of South Africa, maintain national security, and defend and protect the Republic of South Africa to establish and maintain intelligence services and to prevent combat and investigate crime.
As journalists, we live to see a decline in press freedom, which visibly manifests in the growing threats to journalists, including their safety and access to information.
While President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged last year that “one of the most important features of an effective democracy is a free media”, I could not shake off the feeling that some of the state agencies he oversees were not in agreement with his position on the rights of journalists and media freedom.
Commonly, journalists face pressure when working on matters that stimulate public debates, but l feel the state security failed to enforce the principles of protection of journalists by flexing its power through the courts to display its abuse of power.
Much like the SSA, many people think they can avoid bad publicity by threatening journalists with violence or with legal action. Such threats should always be resisted, as we have done despite the emotional pain inflicted on us.
The media is considered by many the fourth arm of the government, and, therefore, the violence and hostility towards reporters is unwarranted, especially when reporters are targeted for holding the authorities accountable.
thabo.makwakwa@inl.co.za