Sanef and partners launch initiative to protect journalists and human rights defenders
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Human rights organisations and the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) have launched a new initiative to protect journalists and human rights defenders from any form of threat and intimidation.
Sanef, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) and Amnesty International SA, launched 'Create Project' to safeguard journalists and human rights from rising threats in the form of online abuse, physical intimidation, surveillance and harassment.
The project, called Capacitating Resilience, Enhancing Accountability and Transforming the Environment (Create), aims to strengthen the protection of journalists and human rights defenders in Southern Africa.
The organisations said journalists and human rights defenders in South Africa and the region are facing rising threats in the form of online abuse, physical intimidation, surveillance and harassment in the face of a global anti-rights movement.
This comes as the organisations celebrated World Freedom Day on Saturday.
May 3 acts as a reminder to the governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom.
The organisations said the initiative recognised that attacks on media freedom and civic activism were not isolated and that they are part of a broader pattern aimed at silencing truth and undermining the democratic space.
The project is designed to push back against that.
In March 2018, former EFF deputy president, Floyd Shivambu, who is now the umKhonto weSizwe (MK) party secretary general, was caught on camera intimidating a multimedia journalist Adrian de Kock outside parliament.
In 2020, police in Swaziland raided the home of Zweli Martin Dlami, the editor of the Swaziland News, and arrested him for two articles he published about King Mswati III, lying about the political and economic situation and accusing him of promoting a cultural ceremony where women could be sexually abused. His laptops, cellphones, hard drives and other electronic devices were also seized.
In April 2021, SABC Radio news journalist Phanuel Shuma was forced to lay a charge of intimidation with police after brothers Manqoba and Lucky Khoza, who were accused of murder and a prosecutor accused of taking a bribe, wanted him to derail their case, at his workplace in Pretoria.
In 2022, human rights defenders Ayanda Ngila and Siyabonga Manqele were murdered and joined the growing list of activists who have been assassinated for their work, like environmental activist Mam'Fikile Ntshangase and whistleblower Babita Deokaran, who were killed for their role in advocating for the rights of marginalised communties and speaking out against corruption.
The new initiative aims to build a safe, supportive, and responsive environment where journalists can do their work without fear, and where defenders of human rights can continue to raise their voices without being punished for it.
Sanef executive director Reggy Moalusi said, 'This is a key training initiative, coming at the right time when journalists across southern Africa are increasingly being harassed and intimidated. We seek to see a better environment where journalists are better treated and are allowed to do their work without any fear of being hunted down by those who simply hate the work they do, and they are afraid of being exposed for all the wrongdoing.'
At the core of the project is the development of a system where journalists can report threats and harassment safely and confidentially. These reports will not only help secure emergency support for those in immediate danger but will also contribute to a growing body of evidence that can be used to hold perpetrators accountable and influence legal and policy reforms.
Amnesty International SA executive director Shenilla Mohamed said, 'This is an important project which underscores the work Amnesty International South Africa, along with other organisations, has been doing on human rights defenders. Journalists, like all human rights defenders, need to be protected. Attacks on journalists ultimately restrict the right to freedom of expression in the country and have the potential to limit the right of the public to access accurate information in the public interest. A vibrant and free press is a key building block of any society.'
By collecting and analysing data on threats and trends, the CREATE project will help shape more informed responses from policymakers, media organizations, and human rights institutions. The aim is to close the gaps that currently allow perpetrators of harassment and violence to act without consequence.
The organisations added that to protect press freedom, the broader environment must be safe for all defenders of rights and democracy. The project strengthens referral networks and access to information so that more defenders, not just those in major cities or established media, can get help when they need it most.
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Daily Maverick
8 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
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Mail & Guardian
16 hours ago
- Mail & Guardian
Shivambu's predatory politics
Floyd Shivambu's new political project masks its predatory character in the language of liberation. Photo: Lunga Mzangwe On 24 June, Zohran Mamdani won the New York City Democratic mayoral primary. Three days later Floyd Shivambu launched his Mayibuye consultation process, introducing what he called a national consultation team as the first step toward forming a new political party. Mamdani's victory was the result of an impressive grassroots mobilisation — more than 50,000 volunteers knocked on more than 1.5 million doors. Neighbourhood assemblies and local coalitions — including tenant unions, transport justice groups, migrant groups and faith-based networks — were organised in working-class and migrant areas. 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In contemporary South Africa, it has long been common for the kind of aspirant counter-elites that rallied round the 'Radical Economic Transformation' project to present the rules established to ensure the integrity of the management of public funds, institutions and services as a barrier to transformation. Efforts to bypass or undo these rules are often legitimated as a continuation of the national liberation struggle via new means on a new terrain. This is the politics of the synecdoche: a part is taken for the whole, the enrichment of the few as progress for everyone. But the appropriation of public funds for private gain can only compound the crisis of impoverishment and institutional dysfunction. Shivambu carries the wreckage of the VBS Mutual Bank scandal into his new project. 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He began his political career as an ANC ward councillor in Durban, later joining the National Freedom Party (NFP), from which he resigned in 2012 after being convicted for his leading role in a xenophobic attack. In 2009, a crowd of about 100 people, many armed, stormed a building in Albert Park in Durban. Two people, one a Zimbabwean and the other a Tanzanian, jumped to their deaths while trying to escape the mob. A Mozambican survived the jump but was seriously injured. Khoza resigned from the NFP after his conviction and then joined the EFF, rising to become the party's provincial chairperson in KwaZulu-Natal and later an MP. He was expelled from the EFF in 2023. Patrick Sindane has been announced as another leading figure in Shivambu's project. He was expelled from the Anti-Privatisation Forum in 2009 after a credible internal disciplinary process found him and two others guilty of involvement in the gang rape of a sex worker. He was arrested but the criminal case did not proceed because the complainant disappeared. In 2013 Sindane was accused of rape again. The other well-known figure in Shivambu's team is Steven Zondo, a Pentecostal leader who, following an all-too-familiar script, has misused religion to sanctify exploitation and abuse. Zondo is currently standing trial for seven counts of rape. In March Judge Mokhine Mosopa dismissed Zondo's attempt to have the case thrown out, ruling that the witnesses, who have been subject to extensive cross-examination, were 'credible, reliable and trustworthy.' Testimony given before the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities has included allegations of child rape. Shivambu has, of course, also enthusiastically associated himself with Shepherd Bushiri, who faces an avalanche of serious criminal charges — among them eight counts of rape, including the rape of minors, and massive fraud. Aimé Césaire, the great anti-colonial intellectual and one of the great poets of the last century, wrote that 'When the world shall be a tower of silence … we shall be the prey and the vulture.' Shivambu and the people he has sought to build his new party with are predatory men preying off a traumatised and often desperate society in the name of religion and national liberation. Cabral would hold Shivambu and his project in nothing but contempt. Mamdani's success is a timely reminder — one that resonates with the best of our own political history — that genuine left politics builds popular participation in the work of constructing new forms of power directed toward the common good. Richard Pithouse is distinguished research fellow at the Global Centre for Advanced Studies, an international research scholar at the University of Connecticut and professor at large at the University of the Western Cape.
The Star
5 days ago
- The Star
Behind the scenes of South African politics: Betrayal, manipulation, and survival
Ayanda Mdluli | Published 3 days ago I remember when I was still in high school as a troubled and rebellious youth, my father would try to inflict discipline with his long lectures and life stories whenever I stepped out of line. He would always lecture me about the value of not making stupid mistakes in life. His argument was that "stupid mistakes" were preventable and that they did not have to happen at all, as long as you had the strategic foresight to see them coming. He would try to drill this in my head for as long as I can remember over quite a number of years, all the way through university and right into corporate. When I look back at my life and how far I have come, I look at all the "stupid mistakes" that I have made and have come to the realisation that each and every trial and tribulation that I have been through was very preventable had I applied strategic foresight. Yes we make mistakes, but in almost every instance, the stupid ones are those that could have been prevented had you gone with your original gut feeling. However, be that as it may, the important thing is how you learn and grow from that experience and whether or not you take accountability for your actions and the consequences that come with it. When I flip the script on these life lessons and compare them with the murky waters of South African politics, I draw the conclusion that the stakes have never been higher, and simultaneously, the mistakes have never been "stupider". What has emerged from the corridors of the MK Party regarding the recent spat between key figures Floyd Shivambu and Nhlamulo Ndhlela serves as a cautionary tale, illustrating that trust, loyalty, and alliances can dissolve in an instant, leaving chaos and intrigue in their wake. The dramatic fallout from their conflict highlights a fundamental truth about the political landscape, and that is even the people closest to you may have hidden agendas that can lead to betrayal. As someone who has been a political, financial and investigative journalist in my career, through the lens of my pen, I cannot help but recall some sobering lessons that I have learned over the last 17 years or so. Here are a few hard truths about playing politics in the South African context: Our bedfellows can be fickle, which means you better sleep with one eye open. Those you share your life with are not immune to the allure of power and money. In politics, "loyalty" can often be an elusive concept. What we do know now though is that, in politics there are no permanent enemies, but only permanent interests. Secondly, your best friends may be your worst enemies. The very people you trust may take compromising photos or evidence of your vulnerabilities, wielding them as dangerous weapons in the cutthroat game of political chess. Who can forget, the "imagine this in your mouth" saga not too long ago which is a case in point. Lastly, In this brutal arena, the threats extend far beyond political rivalry. In the world of Izinkabi and hitmen in KZN, for a fee, colleagues might collude against you, ready to orchestrate a personal demise, whether through sly ambitions or acts of violence. Usually, all it takes is one or two bullets to get you out of the way; look no further than the Sindiso Magaqa murder and its impact in modern day politics. The immoral underbelly of politics is further complicated by the presence of manipulators and smoke screens that disguise true intentions. How is it so easy for politicians to give their word on something, and then a few minutes later change colours like a chameleon and continue to smile in your face like nothing happened? That is just diabolical. As one scandal after another unfolds in various political parties in South Africa, it is evident that maintaining a keen awareness of one's surroundings is paramount in navigating such a treacherous environment. Success in politics depends on one's ability to differentiate between genuine allies and those biding their time until the opportunity to strike arises. For those aspiring to thrive in this toxic environment of deceit, deception, treachery and ever-present danger, it is essential to employ caution, vigilance, and a strategic mindset. In short, do not make stupid mistakes. With personal betrayals exposed and political futures hanging in the balance, the latest drama within the MK Party raises pressing questions about the integrity of South African politics. Let this be a lesson for all. * The opinions expressed in this article does not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper. DAILY NEWS
