Organisers were still awaiting approval from the municipality when a small group gathered to protest for media freedom outside the SAPF station on Wednesday.
Organisers were still awaiting approval from the municipality when a small group gathered to protest for media freedom outside the SAPF station on Wednesday.
“The state are bound to respond; by not responding they are infringing on our rights,” said law student and protest marshal Douglas de Jager.
Ironically, it was Lieutenant Colonel Monray Nel who advised the group on how to make the demonstration legal without municipal approval by keeping the official protest to less than 15 people.
“The municipality did not ban the march,” said Nel, “they just kept quiet.” After a 45-minute wait, the municipality gave the go-ahead.
Rhodes student Aidan Prinsloo handed over a memorandum to the SAPF condemning journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika’s arrest, demanding a public apology for the incident and appealing to the SAPF to refrain from using violent tactics against journalists.
“This is happening without people talking about it,” Prinsloo told the group of around 40 people, who were being watched by a group of police officers.
“The only people talking about it are the media.” De Jager encouraged demonstrators to engage in public debate.
“If government is doing their job then they have nothing to hide,” said De Jager. Paul Hjul, a Jeffrey’s bay resident who organised the protest, says he was pleased with the attendance.
Even though he did not participate in the march, Prof Guy Berger, the head of the Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies said that the protest shows that students are concerned about the issue.
The Rhodes School, along with other journalism schools, will be releasing a statement next week in an attempt to start a national colloquium around current media issues.
However, journalism student Simone Redelinghuys was disappointed with the turnout. “All the people studying journalism should be here,” she said.
The protest was only advertised on Facebook and by word of mouth. Hjul said it was a pity that the Rhodes SRC had ecided not to get involved.
“The SRC took a decision not to endorse [the protest]due to political sensitivity,” said Hjul. Eric Ofei, SRC president said, “People are linking Afrika’s arrest to the [Protection of Information] Bill, so we did not want to take sides because of lack of information.”
