Proposed 'media gag in South Africa'

Man how I wish Philip was still here. Not even a month yet and there is so much drama being reported which isn’t the refs getting it wrong or Suarez doing what he had to or the Dutch trying to kill the Danish?

But before I go on, let me take the time out to wish all you splendid ladies out there a wikkid womens month. Not cos im trying to suck up cos I don’t have to you all love me anyway, but cos if my dear mother and sisters are anything to go by and what randomness they have to put up with from the likes of me and still remain so strong and focused and still them, well what can I do other than bow my head in admiration. Hope you all enjoy this month….and we will have the other 11….Joookes, but you all know what I mean, nothing but love!

So as I was saying less than a month later and we have the Brett Kebble murder case which is playing out like a Murder She Wrote episode, no wait Series!! Its insane! Then we have tigers breaking loose, imagine if this had happened when the World cup was on, then there is the conclusion of Jackie Selebi’s case, 15 year sentence for the man, but will he actually spend a day in jail? We’ll see. Then the one that has me shaking my head, is this attempted media gag that government is trying to impose.

So this ‘gag’ is taking the form of a Protection to Information Bill that government is trying to pass through. Before we all go on and point fingers at the JZ government, word on the street was it was actually brought up 2 years ago and the powers that be said no thanks and it was squashed and now it seems to be rearing its ugly head again.

In essence what this bill does is it is trying to give the right to a minister if I am not mistaken to grant certain documents classified and if any information concerning such documents the person that brought any such documents to the public domain could be subject to some pretty hectic jail time and fines etc.

The biggest issue with the bill, I understand is that the definitions of what constitutes national interest and national security is very vague and thus the onus of judgment rests solely with the minister or organ of the state that deems this document confidential.

Now I am all for the classification of documents of national security such as army and weapons stuff and presidents movements and security detail and stuff you know the information that if leaked could pose a threat to a nation and its people….but, I want to know if the head of police has just spent R500mil of my money on a new building owned by some cronies, when they have another building costing us R500mil already. I want to know if Julius is involved in tenders that were given to him in a manner that was irregular. I want to know if my minister is spending R10000 a night on a hotel room in a province where he has a state house. You see where I am going with this???

Well damnit I vote for you to be in power not so, so when I exercise my vote, I should have all the information available so I will be able to make an informed decision, not so?

I haven’t read the bill, but just from what I have read about it I would say it would go against the Promotion of Access to Information Act, Act 2 of 2000

Extract from the access to information section states…
32 (1) Everyone has the right of access to:
(a) any information held by the state; and
(b) any information that is held by another person and that is
required for the exercise of any rights.

Need I say more?

The goings ons this last week when the Sunday Times journo was so theatrically arrested is case in point. It really was excessive use of resources and the powers that be making a beeeg storm in a tea cup. To be honest if the man has a crime to answer for let him answer, that’s fine. Even if it wasn’t the case no matter how you look at it, the whole story of 8-10 policemen coming to his place of work to arrest him was a little OTT to put it mildly. Its not like the dude killed someone and is holding 5 people hostage. You want him in for questioning, so come and get him quietly. Now you want to make a scene, what do you think the rest of the community is going to think? Okes aren’t stooped ey, especially after he was the guy who unleashed a damning report splashed all over the front cover of the Sunday Times over the weekend….Think a little please.

We need investigative journalism. The ruling party has itself even admitted that there is corruption etc in its ranks and it needs to be dealt with, so clearly the government and its structures aren’t able to keep a lid on things, so if not them then at least let the generally good investigative journalists do their job, especially if their stories are accurate. I am all for making sure that the journalists are accountable in terms of not inflaming stories or misrepresenting the facts to sell papers. But let them write. We need them to write. I want to vote for a better South Africa. I want to know everything before I put you in power to represent me or maybe I am a naive soul

Birthdays
1st Anna, Cous Doreen
3rd Ruan, Deen
5th Tshego
6th Neven
8th Herusha, Nicola

Heppi long weekend errbadi and wikkid womens day on Monday.

Respect and stay blessed cos you are blessed inspite of your present situation!!

Y