The words "prison bars" and "Osama bin Laden" came up in discussions on the future of media freedom in South Africa on Tuesday.

South Africa was heading for a State where journalists would get  jailed for criticising the government, warned Raymond Louw, who is the deputy chairman of the SA National Editors Forum's (Sanef) media freedom committee.

"What we are heading for, is that kind State... where they put editors behind bars," Louw said at the roundtable discussion hosted  by Primedia in Johannesburg.

"There is no grounds for dissension," he added.

The discussion revolved around the ANC's proposed Media Appeals Tribunal for print media and the introduction of the Protection of Information Bill, which the Freedom of Expression Institute warned would make it very difficult for journalists to publish State information in the public interest.

Sanef chairman Mondli Makhanya said the ruling ANC seemed to contradict itself.

On the one hand, its national spokesman, Jackson Mthembu, said it wanted to "engage" with the media on the proposed tribunal, but on the other hand, President Jacob Zuma has unequivocally supported the idea.

"Every single ANC spokesman who gets a platform slams the media as if we were... Osama bin Laden," said Makhanya.

Zuma, in his weekly newsletter, said last week: "We have a responsibility to democratise every aspect of South African society including the media... We will use our right to express what we think. And we should not be silenced by claims of 'threats to press  freedom'."

 Zuma's spokesman, Zizi Kodwa, speaking by phone from Namibia, said the ANC would never go against the Constitution, which protected freedom of speech.

But William Bird, the director of Media Monitoring Africa, said some legislation, such as the Protection of Information Bill, the Independent Communications Authority of SA Amendment Bill and the Public Service Broadcasting Bill were all against the Constitution.

"The bills they introduce are completely and fundamentally at odds with our Constitution," said Bird.

The Icasa Amendment Bill is said to make Icasa a tool of government, instead of being independent, while the Public Service Broadcasting Bill has been criticised for putting the SABC under the control of the communications minister.

Media lawyer Okyerebea Ampofo-Anti agreed, saying she was "concerned about the rhetoric" from the ANC.

The ANC has criticised the Press Ombudsman function, saying it was subjective because it was run by a journalist.

But Makhanya said the Press Ombudsman, who is the award-winning veteran journalist Joe Thloloe, was "no friend of the media" and often ruled against it.

"The Ombudsman makes very harsh rulings," said Makhanya. "I speak as a victim of the Press Ombudsman... he has forced me to make a front-page, half-page apology.

"There is nothing worse than that... imagine yourself walking down Rivonia Road, naked. The humiliation from having to apologise is a very, very serious thing," said Makhanya, the former editor of  the Sunday Times.

The ANC has suggested that Parliament investigate the possibility of a statutory tribunal to regulate the print media.

This will be discussed at its national general council in September.

Mthembu said many people had lost their jobs because of "malicious" coverage they had received in the media.

He said the Press Ombudsman did not allow such people proper recourse, and often an apology by a newspaper was not enough.

Legal action was too expensive for these people, added Mthembu.

But Louw said the Press Ombudsman offered a free service to members of the public who wanted to complain about alleged defamation.

"I haven't seen one case before the Press Ombudsman which reflects a complaint about malicious reporting," said Louw.

He said the most complaints about the media came from high-profile politicians, who probably did have the financial resources to revert to the courts, so Mthembu's argument did not make sense, said Louw.

"And by the way, what is the parliamentary system of dealing with errant parliamentarians? A self-regulatory system with no participation from the public," added Louw.