Statement: R2K and ODAC join in urgent legal action against Parliament!
The Right2Know Campaign and the Open Democracy Advice Centre will be among the bodies bringing an urgent application in the Cape High Court on Tuesday to get an interim order to interdict Parliament from jamming the communications from Parliament, ensure that the feed from Parliament is not cut, and that the cameras remain focused on the actions in the chamber. The applicants are Primedia Broadcasting, SANEF, Right2Know Campaign, ODAC and Media 24.
The events from Thursday’s sitting of Parliament did not only infringe on the freedom of the media: they were a direct affront to the public’s right to know. The apparent use of illegal signal-jamming technology, and the apparent manipulation of Parliament’s television feed, are a serious threat to Parliament’s openness and to the quality of our democracy.
When the information flowing from Parliament is restricted or manipulated, the public is left in the dark.
It is vital that Parliament – and all political parties within Parliament – resolve the crisis it finds itself through democratic means. It requires the institution to take immediate steps to ensure that the heavy-handed securocratic tactics that we saw on Thursday do not repeat themselves, and to open itself completely to scrutiny on all of these issues.
Too many people sacrificed too much for this democracy. We owe it to them to defend the democratic spaces they opened up in 1994. We call on everyone in South Africa – in particular democrats within the ruling party – to unite and defend Parliament against these attacks.
