Zimbabwe, Kenya and Polokwane prove that press freedom is vital to Africa

As Mugabe’s thugs are once again unleashed upon the opposition and journalists in Zimbabwe, the roll of the media in safeguarding the citizens of a country is being highlighted — a roll that is particularly vital to the continent of Africa.

The tyrant, who has just poked his head above ground, has decided to employ the usual terror tactics in trying to ensure that his demands are met — that he and his followers be given the immunity and rewards that they want, or else they will try to steal another election.

Whether it is decided that this blackmail is cheap at the price, we will know shortly.

What is not cheap but rather vital to the well-being of Africans is freedom of the press. Kenya, Polokwane and Zimbabwe demonstrate why this is the case.

In the build-up to Polokwane, the “opposition faction” of Jacob Zuma found immeasurable protection from the press, which mercilessly hounded the government with regard to the employment of state organs for political goals. As a result, the people’s choice, Zuma, achieved the presidency for which he might never have had the opportunity to stand.

Without the media as watchdog, there is no doubt that the current ANC president would not have been elected. Instead he may well have been the victim of a Mugabe-style crackdown.

If all that people get to hear about is what the government mouthpiece tenders as fact, then Zuma may well have been dragged through the mud and drowned in litigation.

The value of the man on the ground being kept informed and thereby acting as a check and balance to the government is priceless.

As Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate for the United States presidency, said in his address to a US naval academy this week: “I’m a conservative, and I believe it is a very healthy thing for Americans to be sceptical about the purposes and practices of public officials. We shouldn’t expect too much from government — nor should it expect too much from us. Self-reliance — not foisting our responsibilities off on others — is the ethic that made America great.”

Self-reliance and scepticism relies on information without which no meaningful discourse or action is possible.

In Zimbabwe, we have seen how Mugabe has rigged and stolen election after election in a country where the only legitimate voice that can be heard is that of the government. Anything resembling an independent media has been forced underground.

To Africa’s eternal shame, the world is watching African observers kowtowing to a militant thug who has murdered his people in their tens of thousands. When you starve your people, withhold medical treatment or destroy their economy to suit your own ends, then their deaths constitute the unlawful, intentional killing of human beings — murder.

Yet again the media are the only safeguard that those Zimbabweans have against this disgusting blot on the continent’s history. Free media from around the world risk life and limb to bring the true story of Zimbabwe to the outside world. As a result, even Mugabe is feeling the pressure — he knows that even though his internal puppets are perpetuating his lies, the rest of the world aren’t buying any of it.

A free press in Zimbabwe would have seen the back of Mugabe many, many years ago. That is why he got rid of it as soon as he realised that he would have to maintain power through the bullet on account of his waning popularity.

Dare I say it, but the same applies to apartheid — if a free press had been allowed from the beginning, it is inconceivable that we would have had anywhere near 40 years of that disgusting system. How many people would have been prepared to give their lives to fight against Madiba and a centrist ANC?

In all of these cases, law and order is secondary to press freedom in protecting the populace. The criminal justice system and the rule of law cannot function properly in a vacuum or starved of the information it needs to apply the law in a fashion suitable to the environment within which it operates.

In Kenya, the solutions to the conflicts arising from its nightmare election are being found far sooner than they would have been, had the planet been forced to wait for news of the unrest to filter through.

The speed of a free press in highlighting the problems will probably save tens of thousands of lives in the long term. Where people know of danger they can respond — without that knowledge, governments can literally annihilate large segments of the population while the world looks on oblivious to the problems being experienced.

With Africa’s record of abusive governments and despots, the one safeguard to us all is a free press — that an outside world and your fellow citizens be kept informed of what is going on in a particular country.

It is through this measure that citizens are afforded material protection against tyranny.