Sanef condemns threats directed at Herald reporter

The SA National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has condemned threats and intimidation directed at a journalist working for The Herald in the Eastern Cape.

The reporter is in hiding in a safe house after her publication saw screenshots from a community WhatsApp group where members were allegedly threatening to “deal” with her. 

This follows a protest she covered earlier this month where locals clashed with foreigners in Plettenberg Bay.

According to a statement issued by Sanef, the reporter was this week forced to leave her home because of threats of violence by community members in KwaNokuthula township.

“The Herald editor Rochelle de Kock told Sanef the reporter was now staying in a safe house. So bad has the situation become that the reporter and the publication decided her news reports will no longer carry her name to mitigate the intimidation and make her feel more at ease in a community in which she too is a member,” Sanef said.

De Kock told Sanef the reporter was covering a protest march, along the N2 in Plettenberg Bay, by a large group of locals that clashed with foreigners on September 1, when she was accosted.

“They pushed her around and demanded she deletes the footage she had taken. They threatened to break her phone. She was shaken by the incident and we told her to leave the scene,” De Kock said.

On Tuesday, The Herald is said to have received screenshots of a discussion in a WhatsApp group where the locals not only expressed their displeasure at the work done by journalists in KwaNokuthula, but encouraged each other to “deal” with The Herald reporter and another journalist linked to GroundUp.

“Sanef abhors the use of violence — or even threats of violence — in resolving any disagreement. If anyone is unhappy with the work journalists do, they should freely approach the Press Council or the BCCSA [Broadcasting Complaints Commission],” Sanef said. 

The editors' forum said intimidating journalists to the point that they are uncomfortable using their names on their news stories is indicative of the chilling effect this has on journalism and is anathema to democracy.

Intimidation and threats against journalists are unacceptable, it said.

“We will support The Herald as a case has been opened, and we hope law enforcement agencies take appropriate action.”

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