Draconian Censorship in SA... will history repeat itself?

During the times of the Apartheid, draconian censorship was being practised. A draconian legislation was passed on to people who were opposed by the apartheid. They enforced not only control on people who refused to abide to the laws put forth by the Apartheid Regime, but specifically put leashes on the Media.

In 1994 this all changes as South Africa became a democratic country and draconian legislation was lifted and abolished. The new rise of ANC brought huge change by accepting everyone as equal human individuals, no matter the race, hence a democratic regime. Considering the big adaptation from a white’s only command, to an all equal society was and still is taking shape on a slow scale. However if you take a closer look at equation from an outside perspective, the ball has been swapped around in that predominantly black folks benefit the most from the economy and the ‘coloured’ people continue to struggle and not be uplifted.

In 2010, the ANC proposed a draconian censorship to journalist though passing a new campaign called the Media Appeals Tribunal. The ANC have decided to place some sort of censorship on the media in order to protect government and what the media write or further exploit and this is to the disadvantage for government. According to Professor Pieter J. Fourie of UNISA, he stated that the way the ANC is treating the Media and how the media was dealt with during the Apartheid are very similar, hence Draconian Censorship.

Should the Media Appeals Tribunal followed by all the bills laid down be approved, the media would then be restricted and not allowed the freedom of speech to express true and vital information that citizens of this country ought to know about. These bills and Tribunal would then undermine and act contradictory in a democratic system which we supposedly practice in South Africa.

Meanwhile government is doing everything in its power to protect their image by trying to implement laws and campaigns that are of an unfair and discriminative nature.

Is history repeating itself? In my opinion, I feel that Apartheid is still being retrenched under democratic command and title, all they did was exchange the race that governed, adjust and implement procedures and laws that are to their advantage. One can only hope that this debacle is resolved in time, or else the media can forgot about ever communicating accurately, moreover truthfully to the citizens ever again!

For more information regarding the Media Appeals Tribunal and Bills, visit The Big Media Debate blog, http://bigmediadebate.blogspot.com/p/lecture-by-prof-pj-fourie-struggle-for.html

Hope my talk was informative.

Until next time ... Chow Bella :)