2021

On October 21, 2021, in the lead up to South Africa’s municipal elections on November 1, supporters of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) held a news team from the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) against their will for two hours demanding coverage from the public broadcaster. On election day, SABC reported another crew was…

Lusaka, Zambia, July 13, 2021 – South African authorities must swiftly and thoroughly investigate recent attacks on media outlets and journalists covering civil unrest in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Since July 4, protests have broken out in at least two provinces, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, which began over the jailing of…

On June 10, 2021, a group of supporters of the South African Economic Freedom Fighters opposition party harassed and threatened reporter Ayesha Ismail and camera operator Mario Pedro, with the privately owned broadcaster eNCA, while they tried to cover an anti-racism protest in Cape Town, according to video of the incident shared on social media…

South Africa’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, handed down a landmark judgment on February 4 that not only protects journalists and their sources from surveillance abuse, but also upheld a lower court’s ruling that the insidious practice of the bulk interception of ordinary citizens’ data and communication is illegal. The ruling, documented by CPJ, was…

New York, February 4, 2021 – In response to the South African Constitutional Court’s decision today to uphold a 2019 High Court ruling that invalidated legislation allowing for the surveillance of members of the press, the Committee to protect Journalists issued the following statement: “Journalist Sam Sole’s communications should never have been intercepted, but the…