Pretoria - The Department of Communications has condemned a decision by the Western Cape Provincial Government to not renew subscriptions to the Cape Times newspaper.
“The actions of the Western Cape government amount to an abuse of power. We dare not return to a time when the media is placed under siege simply for doing its work and reporting without fear or favour,” said the Department of Communications spokesperson Ayanda Holo.
Holo said the directive by the Director-General of the Western Cape, Advocate Brent Gerber, to provincial departments to not renew the subscriptions of the Cape Times newspaper was deeply troubling.
“This directive is not in keeping with the spirit of our democracy and it flies in the face of the freedom to receive or impart information or ideas as entrenched in the Bill of Rights,” he said.
Holo said the decision was not in the interest of South Africa and will only serve to weaken media freedom.
“When our Constitution was finally adopted, the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the media was entrenched to ensure that never again would a free media be subject to restrictions in our nation,” he said.
Holo said in cases where the media erred in its reporting, the Western Cape government could have approached the editor of the newspaper or lodged a complaint with the office of the Press Ombudsman to express their concerns. – SAnews.gov.za
