FEATURED ARTICLE
Putting the Insane Media in a Straitjacket
My friend, Evans, works in a restaurant in Long Street waiting tables. Zimbabwean-born, he was a journalist many years ago in his homeland.
Back when Malema was pledging his supporters willingness to “kill for Zuma”, he chuckled darkly and said, “You South Africans don’t know what’s coming.”
He told me that it didn’t happen overnight. His people didn’t just go to bed a democracy and wake up to violent despotism. It was a slow process; an erosion of freedoms over years. One of the most pertinent was the silencing of any negative reporting of their proud leader and his Zanu-PF government.
Once the ball was rolling, and any reports of corruption or bloodshed were deemed not to be in the national interest or unpatriotic and banned, it opened the door to the detainment of journalists and eventually the closing down of newspapers.
We all know the tragedy of Zimbabwe. It should be regarded as a morality tale by our politicians, but it appears they are looking at it more as a textbook example of how to hold onto power.
They want us to think the hysterical media are trying to whip us into a fearful frenzy. They want us to think the people who regard it as a nail in democracy’s coffin are Afro-pessimists. They want us to act true to form and ignore it as if it will go away.
This is not the same ANC of the Mandela-era. They may play the struggle card as if it is theirs, but it is not. This ANC has tasted power and wants more, untapped, without any risk of that sweet cup running dry.
Saying that censorship of the media will make it more open is insanity. Saying that the banning of so-called “negative reporting” will encourage accountability is insanity. Saying that it is for the benefit of the people is insanity.
We are on the brink of becoming a strait-jacket nation; the walls will be soft, the door locked, and our arms tied.
Back when Malema was pledging his supporters willingness to “kill for Zuma”, he chuckled darkly and said, “You South Africans don’t know what’s coming.”
He told me that it didn’t happen overnight. His people didn’t just go to bed a democracy and wake up to violent despotism. It was a slow process; an erosion of freedoms over years. One of the most pertinent was the silencing of any negative reporting of their proud leader and his Zanu-PF government.
Once the ball was rolling, and any reports of corruption or bloodshed were deemed not to be in the national interest or unpatriotic and banned, it opened the door to the detainment of journalists and eventually the closing down of newspapers.
We all know the tragedy of Zimbabwe. It should be regarded as a morality tale by our politicians, but it appears they are looking at it more as a textbook example of how to hold onto power.
They want us to think the hysterical media are trying to whip us into a fearful frenzy. They want us to think the people who regard it as a nail in democracy’s coffin are Afro-pessimists. They want us to act true to form and ignore it as if it will go away.
This is not the same ANC of the Mandela-era. They may play the struggle card as if it is theirs, but it is not. This ANC has tasted power and wants more, untapped, without any risk of that sweet cup running dry.
Saying that censorship of the media will make it more open is insanity. Saying that the banning of so-called “negative reporting” will encourage accountability is insanity. Saying that it is for the benefit of the people is insanity.
We are on the brink of becoming a strait-jacket nation; the walls will be soft, the door locked, and our arms tied.
