SACP slams intimidation, threats against journalists

The SACP on Saturday slammed recent incidents of journalists being threatened, declaring these as a sign of prejudice in South Africa.

"The South African Communist Party unequivocally condemns intimidation, trolling or online harassment of journalists," the party said in a statement.

"The list of the media practitioners who have recently been isolated, intimidated and/or threatened, exposes the nasty fight back…as also racist, chauvinist and sexist."

The SACP noted that, among other social media forums, Facebook and Twitter had already seen a rise in threats and incitement made against journalists - particularly in the wake of the state capture commission.

It listed those who had experienced intimidation as including Talk Radio 702 host and and eNCA analyst Karima Brown, Daily Maverick investigative reporter Pauli van Wyk, Tiso Blackstar's associate editor Ranjeni Munusamy and News24's Editor-in-Chief Adriaan Basson.

"The SACP urges South Africans to unite against the regressive tendency, close ranks and defend, advance and deepen transformation."

This weekend, both Basson and Brown opened criminal cases following incidents of intimidation.

On Friday, Basson opened a criminal case against an EFF supporter who, in a tweet, threatened to kill him.

The tweet was issued after Basson shared a link to a story about the DA reporting Black First Land First (BLF) leader Andile Mngxitama to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and the Equality Court for comments relating to the killing of white people.

Meanwhile, over the weekend, Brown laid charges of incitement of violence and intimidation against a member of the EFF.

This was after she said she received a WhatsApp message from a man, in which he described her as "enemy number one for the EFF".

Last month, the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) vowed to take steps following attacks on journalists by EFF leader Julius Malema and other party members who identified specific journalists he accused of protecting Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.

Outside, the commission of inquiry into state capture, Malema dubbed Gordhan a "dog of white monopoly capital", accused the media of ignoring allegations made by the EFF leader that Gordhan's daughter is in business with the state and labelled certain journalists as being "the defence force of President Cyril Ramaphosa and Pravin Gordhan".