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WikiLeaks
Don't be too concerned about the local press, all will still be available on the internet & WikiLeaks
by ebukoos

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24 August 2010 00:16

The Media Tribunal: A modest proposal

James Myburgh says there's no reason for the ANC to try and reinvent the wheel

Over the weekend various figures in government have reiterated their determination to push ahead with the proposal for a Media Appeals Tribunal. In an article in Umsebenzi Online SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande even enlisted the late Ruth First in support of these plans. "We are convinced", he wrote, "that were she alive today she would have thrown everything into supporting an independent media appeals tribunal as a necessary component of free, but publicly accountable, media."

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17 August 2010 02:20

The ANC, the Nats and the free press

James Myburgh on the spooky similarities between then and now.

In his recent defence of the ANC's plans for a media tribunal President Jacob Zuma took umbrage at the suggestion "that this is an attempt by the ruling party to control and bulldoze the media using the tactics of apartheid regime. To even suggest that the ANC and its government could have any similarities to the apartheid regime is not only preposterous, it is also disingenuous and an unbearable insult."

Zuma may well be right, and no doubt one of the media tribunal's first tasks, once established, will be to quash the making of any such unpatriotic comparisons.

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12 August 2010 04:36

The Zuma ANC's one redeeming feature

James Myburgh says we can be in no doubt about the ruling party's intentions

If the Zuma-ANC have one redeeming feature it is that they tend to come at you while yelling, and waving a large panga in the air, from about six hundred yards away. It is an approach that is certainly frightening, and allows for little doubt as to their ultimate intentions. But it does have the advantage of giving one some time to prepare defensive measures against a clearly articulated threat.

This approach is quite different to that of the Mbeki-ANC. In those days you would have been graciously invited into a barbership, and sat down in a comfortable chair.

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04 August 2010 11:08

Do we need an independent media tribunal?

Jeremy Cronin debates the issue through the media.

It is generally considered unwise for a politician to debate critically with the media through the media about the media. You don't exactly enjoy home-ground advantage.

This has been obvious in recent weeks with the re-surfacing of the debate around the ANC's 2007 national conference resolution on an independent media tribunal. There has been a back-lash barrage of negative editorial comment directed against the three or four ANC and Alliance comrades who have had the temerity to raise the tribunal proposal again.

Yet beneath the negative barrage some interesting issues have emerged. In the first place, notice how senior journalists are divided on whether to respond positively to ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe's invitation to have an open and frank discussion on th...

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28 July 2010 09:33

The ANCYL's not revolting - Malema

Youth League president says Lehlogonolo Masoga is an ill-disciplined individual.

JOHANNESBURG (Sapa) - The ANC Youth League is not in crisis ahead of its elective conference next year, its president Julius Malema said on Tuesday.

"The ANCYL is in good shape. There is absolutely no revolt in the league," said Malema in an interview on SABC 3's Interface.

"There is just a group of rowdy, ill-disciplined individuals who posed a challenge in some provinces."

Malema mentioned the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga provincial conferences as having disgruntled members who tried to undermine the ANCYL.

Former ANCYL Limpopo chairman Lehlogonolo Masoga, who was recently dismissed by the league, was mentioned as an ill-disciplined individual.

"Masoga knows [disciplinary] processes very well but he decided to go outs...

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