Sunday Times Editorial : The statement by Jimmy Manyi, the director-general of the Department of Labour, that the media has abused its freedoms by turning President Jacob Zuma's office into "the most disrespected office in the land", is baffling.
It is most unfortunate that a senior civil servant like Manyi has opted to use a symposium organised by the Black Management Forum (of which he is president) to rail against the media without providing a shred of evidence to support his allegation.
Like all government ministries and their respective departments, Zuma's office has received critical and balanced media scrutiny.
The media has rightly been vocal whenever Zuma has appeared to be drifting towards undermining the integrity and dignity of the office of the president.
That is why the president found it appropriate and necessary to apologise to the nation after the scandal of his siring a child out of wedlock was exposed by the media this year.
South Africa will be poorer without a vibrant and inquisitive media. Manyi should know that a free press is one of the cornerstones of a successful and effective democracy. Changing the constitution to curb media freedoms - as Manyi seems to suggest - would be a step towards a dictatorship.
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