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Black First Land First deputy secretary-general Tshidiso Tsimang said on Tuesday that his organisation would continue its “peaceful” protests against white journalists.
This came after the South African Human Rights Commission called on the BLF to immediately cease intimidating and harassing journalists and called on this group, and on all who resided within the country, to respect and protect the media’s right to operate without fear or favour.
Last week, the BLF staged protests outside Tiso Blackstar editor-at-large Peter Bruce’s house in Parkview, Johannesburg. The protesters proceeded to allegedly assault Bruce and Business day editor Tim Cohen, who had come to check on Bruce after hearing about the protests.
“This is a lie” said Tsimang. “We did not attack Peter Bruce. We went to his house for a peaceful protest. We wanted to raise awareness of the manner in which this individual, in his role as editor, pushes a narrative that benefits white monopoly capital through his biased lens that only focuses on the negatives that black people do.
“He himself expressed to us that not everything he writes is based on fact, going on to express that some of his articles are based on opinion. The problem then is how his opinion seems to be aimed at only tarnishing black people,” said Tsimang.
Tsimang admitted that there were some black individuals who abused their roles and indulged in corruption but the reason why these protests were planed was because “white journalists continue to peddle articles that paint a picture of black individuals as the only perpetrators of corruption while not exposing the real problem, which is white monopoly capital”.
The BLF last week published a list of journalists that they aimed to protest against. These included Bruce, News24 editor Adriaan Basson, and EWN’s Stephen Grootes and Barry Bateman.
Its website, on which the list was published, has since been suspended.
The South African Human Rights Commission expressed its “grave concern about the targeting and intimidation of journalists by the BLF and the threats to protest at the homes and places of worship of members of the media”.
The South African Editors Forum (Sanef) responded to the actions of BLF by sending them a letter on Friday via their lawyers at Webber Wentzel, asking the movement to commit to not attacking journalists or face legal action.
On Tuesday, the editor’s forum filed an urgent application against the BLF and its founder, Andile Mngxitama, at the South Gauteng High Court.
Sanef chairperson Mahlatse Gallens in her founding affidavit said: “The harassment of these journalists is part and parcel of an orchestrated campaign.
“Each one of the journalists is a senior professional who, in his or her area of reporting expertise, has reported to the nation, objectively and independently on the political state of the South African economy and the corruption and maladministration consequent to the alleged capturing of the national economy to further the interests of an elite few.”
Gallens suggested that the purpose of BLF targeted harassments towards these journalists was to keep allegations of corruption and state capture out of the public domain.
Tsimang maintained that the BLF would not stop “until they have managed to expose the real agenda being set by these white journalists which is to protect the interests of white monopoly capital in South African through biased reporting that only exposes black corruption”.
