Polokwane — Pushed around, literally, by security guards at the national conference of the African National Congress, Charlayne Hunter-Gault reflects on whether the ANC understands the needs of journalists and the place of a free media in a democracy.
I should have known it was too good to be true. That J Zed was actually going to meet the media the same night of his election to his most promising and sought-after job—president of the African National Congress… with the promise of being the President of the RSA.
And it was. Late last night, J Zed's people sent word that the presser was off—but only until this morning at 11. Agh shame, as they say in South Africa—for both good things and bad (depends on the emphasis and context… in this one, it was for not so good things, like timing, as I had an NPR piece to do and couldn't edit until the following morning around 8. Which meant that I had to work through the night to be ready for the edit and the presser by J Zed. Which I did, with every conceivable computer glitch , save one—the kind of crash I had in Khartoum covering the Elders. But, once again, for now, enough about me…
J Zed's first media briefing-to-be led the local news early this morning.
I worked until five, slept for two hours, and finished the edit, filing right at ten o'clock on the dot. Thirty minutes to the venue, and maybe 10 minutes to elbow my way into what I was sure was going to be a packed press room. Well, five breathless minutes away from the venue, I heard on the radio that the presser had been cancelled. J Zed wanted to speak to his people first. I should have known it was too good to be true.
I don't normally do whineys about treatment of the media, especially from government officials. But the treatment of the media at this conference has not helped working relations with the ANC—from the cock up at accreditation (not mine, but many others) to the dust-ups at the open sessions in which Security hadn't got the word that media were, in fact, allowed in open sessions.
On one occasion I watched as a rather stout, but ambidextrous security guard began shoving a cameraman with one hand and shaking his finger in his face at the same time and refusing to listen to an initially fairly calm explanation that we had been told to come there by one of his own. The cameraman kept warning him not to push and shake his finger in his face, but he paid no heed until finally the cameraman threw down and squared off. Intervention by a number of other journalists prevented an even uglier incident, but it further aggravated both sides to the point of tension like that in the conference, so thick you could cut it with a knife, in the words of the ANC's Jeff Radebe. Pushing is one of the treatments I've been treated to, as well, even as I was beating the requested retreat.
On another occasion, several other journalists were manhandled while sheltering from a downpour under an overhang outside the plenary session building. One security guard snatched off the credential of one, and he has yet to get it back. During the voting for the top six, one ANC cabinet minister (Finance) , Trevor Manuel—arguably one of the government's best—made news when, as the Mail & Guardian reported, was observed "swiping at a reporter with his umbrella on Tuesday after trying to take a Beeld photographer's camera away from her." (I will endeavor to find him and get his side. Stay tuned.)
In much of this, Bheki Khumalo, one of the best spokespersons President Mbeki ever had in government, but who is now in the private sector—though still an active ANC member—came to our rescue, effectively intervening and getting us in the door and at least on the floor. Even he acknowledged that proper planning would have taken our needs into consideration, maybe even to the extent of providing chairs for us to sit on. Nothing fancy, mind you. But something a little forethought might have provided.
I mean, sprawled as we were all over the show in front of the President of the country and other top officials, I'm sure didn't help with the respect issue—with them or with the delegates who kept shouting "Phansi [down] media! Phansi!" when the photographers stood up in front of them to get shots of J Zed and Thabo Mbeki carrying on either a charm offensive or looking pensive, or disinterested in what the other was saying.
All of this against a backdrop of criticisms of a plethora of "negative" media stories, even when the stories were generated by the very people doing the criticizing. Media rarely make stories out of whole cloth and to use a cliché ('cause I'm doing a blog and not a news story), where there's smoke, there tends to be fire. You want good news? Make it!
This morning the SABC's best talk show host, Xolani Gwala took this on and aired a variety of views. From what I heard, until I shut down after the brief news item saying the President's press conference had been cancelled, the discussion was constructive. The kind of discussion that media and government need more of.
There is such widespread mistrust, if not animosity on both sides, although this is not unusual in most democracies, including the U.S. of A. I don't mind the adversarial role of the media, when it is justified (which is a lot of the time), nor the criticism from government and other non-government actors, most especially when we in the media behave irresponsibly. But both sides need to work at understanding the roles of the other (not The Other) and give more attention to respecting each for the roles they are destined to play—especially in a country that has moved, mostly, beyond baby steps to democracy. (Some even say the contest between J Zed and Thabo Mbeki is still another democratic milestone, given the lack of a presidential election in the ANC for more than 50 years).
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South Africa has one of the free-est and most competent media on the continent and with a few exceptions, has a good track record on freedom of the press. But more work needs to be done, as the country can (and should) provide a model for other emerging democracies on the continent that have yet to go where it has been.
The ANC got the message, including the one sent by the South African National Editors' Forum, aka Sanef, which strongly protested the "boorish treatment" of the media at the conference. It has apologized for the behavior of some of its members. Among the more than a dozen "Commissions" drawing up ANC policy positions there is one on the media. It won't be breaking news, but it's with baited breath I await it, hoping there is reflection of an understanding that free media are one of the pillars of a vibrant democracy.
