NUMSA STATEMENT ON WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY
03 May 2011
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) joins the people of the world in celebrating and commemorating the World Press Freedom Day.
We dedicate our World Press Freedom Day to the thousands of our country's journalist workers who exposed the barbaric and heinous killing of Andries Tatane by police officers. The expose' by journalist workers of Andries Tatane's brutal murder at the hands of the police was a confirmation of South Africa's media independence, as opposed to be a poodle of the ruling government reminiscent of the apartheid past.
We are proud that in South Africa, the media is operating freely and without any due political interference. This freedom and independence the media owes it to the gallant martyrs of media freedom produced from the ranks of the liberation movement as led by the African National Congress (ANC) and vanguard party of the working class, the South African Communist Party (SACP) such as Ruth First, Govan Mbeki, Bessie Head, Edwin Mofutsanyane and countless others.
We salute these gallant fighters and martyrs of media freedom produced from the ranks of the liberation movement as led by the ANC and SACP. We salute these gallant fighters and martyrs for making sure that in a post apartheid South Africa, journalist workers are not harassed, detained without trial or killed for reporting on politico issues of the day. We salute these gallant fighters and martyrs for emboldening the ANC-led Alliance to fight for a free and independent media. Their beliefs and principles of a free media will forever be in the political programme of the ANC-led Alliance as we deepen the transformation of the media.
They will be furious to see that the Democratic Alliance (DA) is a threat to a free and independent media in South Africa, which was achieved through the shed of blood. They will be disgusted to note that the DA blacklisted a journalist worker for not reporting according to the whims and wishes of the DA oligarchy. They will be annoyed at the imperial English dominance in the free flow of ideas in society as circulated by capitalist embedded newsroom prints.
On this day of World Press Freedom Day, Numsa furthermore salute the courageous work done by the "Save the Press Campaign" in the 1980's when apartheid South Africa's President PW Botha thought that state of emergency could stem the tide of freedom.
As Numsa, we call on this day of World Press Freedom Day, for a more balanced or fair coverage of popular struggles waged by workers in the point of production against the owning class. The workers are the majority and continue play an important role in the body politics of our country, and they struggles cannot be blacklisted in favour decadence of Sushi's Kenny Kunene or Khanyi Mbau.
Statement issued by Castro Ngobese, NUMSA national spokesperson, May 3 2011
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