PAC says it will ‘physically defend’ journalists

04 July 2017 - 14:26 By Timeslive
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
Members of the socialist organisation Black First Land First threaten editor Business Day newspaper, Tim Cohen, because he tried to take a picture of them.
Members of the socialist organisation Black First Land First threaten editor Business Day newspaper, Tim Cohen, because he tried to take a picture of them.
Image: Lefedi Radebe

The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) has condemned what it calls the “thuggish behaviour displayed by populists and defenders of certain family empires” – and says it will “physically defend journalists to do their work”.

“PAC encourages and instructs its members‚ activists and leaders to physically protect all journalists on and off duty. We are not going to be intimidated by [a] bunch of clowns who are threatening the gains of freedom which PAC sacrificed with blood for it cannot be‚” said the PAC’s Kenneth Mokgatlhe.

He added that press freedom was a pre-requisite for a democratic country hence it was clearly stated and guaranteed in section 16 of “our beloved Constitution”. “Journalists are media workers and therefore need to be protected by both the constitution and literally by our courts.

“An attack on journalists is an attack on our masses because the media is the fourth estate of government and needs to be taken serious like the other 3 branches of government. The media plays an integral part in our society and that cannot be taken away by attention-seekers. We are not going to allow this cheap tendency in the name of being revolutionary‚” Mokgatlhe stated.

- TimesLIVE

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now