I Sydafrika er regeringen tæt på at vedtage en ny lov, der skal pålægge journalister at værne om visse statslige hemmeligheder. Desmond Tutu stiller sig yderst kritisk overfor forslaget.
Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has strongly condemned a new media law, which South African MPs are set to vote on shortly, BBC online reports Tuesday.
He called it “insulting” and warned it could be used to outlaw (forbyde) “whistle-blowing and investigative journalism”.
South African journalists seem to agree that the so-called “secrecy bill” is a disgrace. Wearing only black, they have staged a protest outside the headquarters of the governing ANC.
The ANC says the law is needed to safeguard state secrets.
The African National Congress has a two-thirds majority in parliament and so the bill (lovforslaget) is expected to pass, unless the party leadership has a last-minute change of mind.
The Protection of State Information Bill proposes tough sentences on anyone possessing classified government documents.
The BBC’s Nomsa Maseko in Johannesburg says the bill has come under closer scrutiny after President Jacob Zuma’s spokesman Mac Maharaj filed a lawsuit against South Africa’s Mail and Guardian newspaper – preventing it from publishing information linking him to a controversial arms 1999 deal.
The South African media broke the story using secret documents, but under the new law, journalists and their editors would face stiff jail sentences for similar disclosures, she says to the BBC online.
