3 min read

11.10.22

21H00 CAT

Umm Muhammed Umar

Radio Islam discussed journalists, journalism and media freedom with WITS journalism professor, Anton Harber. Harber is also the Executive Director of the Campaign for Free Expression, and the Director of the Henry Nxumalo Foundation. There is great concern that media freedom itself is on trial as seasoned News 24 Journalist, Karyn Maughan appeared in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday, in former president Jacob Zuma’s private prosecution of herself and Senior State Advocate, Billy Downer. Maughan appeared alongside the lead prosecutor of the case related to Zuma’s arms deal related fraud and corruption trial. Zuma accused them of breaking the law when Downer allegedly leaked a court document to Maughan, which supposedly disclosed his private medical condition.

Professor Harber said that Maughan had not exposed Zuma’s medical records. He said that all that had been exposed was a letter from Zuma’s doctor. Further, according to the professor, the records were, in fact, released by Zuma’s attorneys as part of the court record. Harber said that the trial had major implications for media freedom: “to see a journalist in the dock is something of great significance in an open and democratic society.”

Meanwhile, Downer and Maughan claimed in their applications to have the charges dropped, that Zuma’s motion to privately prosecute was an abuse of the legal process. Prof Harber said, “my organization, Campaign for Free Expression, is one of three organizations that have applied to be friends of the court. And that’s precisely because we are concerned that this is a ‘SLAP’ case.” He explained that ‘SLAP’ stood for ‘Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation’. He said, “it’s a case where they’re not in pursuit of justice, but to try and silence a critic or a journalist, or someone like Karyn Maughan.” He added, “So, we were going to court to try and assist the court to try and make law in this country, because it’s new law around the world, about SLAP cases.”

Karyn Maughan wants the matter to be heard as a matter of great urgency, for her to be able to move on and cover the arms deal trial. Very few have done as much work as Karyn Maughan in uncovering corruption in South Africa, especially in relation to the arms deal. The case, however, has been postponed TO February 2023, leaving many wondering whether she will be able to cover Zuma’s trial. Prof Harber said that that depended on when Maughan’s trial ran and how it overlapped with Zuma’s trial. He added, “But there’s no question that when you yourself are on trial, it’s going to take your attention, it’s going to take your time, it’s going to take your resources, and it’s going to detract from her doing her work.” He further added, “she has been facing an onslaught of social media attacks and criticism, and that clearly puts her in a very difficult position, because it really has been a relentless attack.”

Former President Zuma has reportedly failed to obtain a nolle prosequi (a “not wishing to prosecute”) certificate from the Director of Public Prosecutions, to entitle him to institute a private prosecution against Maughan. Prof Harber said that the issue would be confronted in court. He believed that Zuma had first laid charges with the National Prosecuting Authority against Billy Downer, and not against Maughan. The certificate, however, from the NPA, saying they weren’t going to prosecute, allowed him a private prosecution, but only against Billy Downer. It wasn’t applicable to Maughan.

Prof Harber said, “we want to assist the court on the issue of a SLAP case because that case is designed to scare off others – to have a chilling effect on people because they think of the time and the cost and the difficulties of facing a case like this.” He said, “it can encourage self-censorship and stop other journalists doing their work. And that is really why we think it’s a very important issue that we want to argue before the court.”