ARTICLE 2: YOUTH AT UKZN TAKE ON THE MEDIA TRIBUNAL

YOUTH AT UKZN TAKE ON THE MEDIA TRIBUNAL

The media tribunal has hit SA youth, and it has hit hard. In our previous article “”A - ZUMA” – we had introduced the three political parties opinion-based responses to the ANC’s media tribunal appeal. The DA, ANCYL and the ANC are the three parties concerned and as ‘journalists’ we are taking a stance specifically on the youth as they are a result of the future - the tomorrows of South Africa. This article deals with matters that could possibly affect our youth. Questions were aimed at the youth to evoke a detailed response on their knowledge of the media tribunal. These questions were posed to interviewees of UKZN: Safee-naaz Siddiqui, Nabeelah Mohammed Haffejee, Masoodah Sheik and Yumnah Cassim.

These questions gave rise to various responses of the youth and they participated intellectually with the curiosity to learn more.

Safee-naaz and Nabeelah have mentioned that they do acknowledge South African politics to a certain extent, but their view on it is that politics in South Africa is different to anywhere else in the world and so are the media and the public, as a whole. According to Safee-naaz and Nabeelah their view on the media exploiting propaganda suggests that the media are vultures who must feed and it is up to the people to be more discerning.

Safee-naaz and Nabeelah both have mentioned in the interview that they know about the media tribunal and their view on the media tribunal is essentially a way of curtailing the press freedom, so that the ruling party has more control over the media freedom. According to them its purpose would be to serve the interest of the elite few instead of reporting to the masses what can 'at times' be considered pertinent information for the interest of the majority. I.T. is a gross violation of public interest and our 'Right to know'.

Along with Safee-naaz and Nabeelah, Yumnah and Masoodah were other respected candidates of the interview. Masoodah informs us that she does not have any interest in S.A. politics because she does not plan on residing here in S.A., although, international media does intrigue her. She undoubtedly says the media is very manipulative and one-sided which discourages a young student such as herself. Yumnah reveals her emotions on her political stance as a young South African by saying she has an interest in politics and is aware of the way in which media exploits propaganda and she finds that political parties are using this form of propaganda to influence the community in believing in what they are saying irrespective of them being positive or negative actions.

Helen Zille said in response to the media tribunal that “the gravest legislative threat to our constitution since 1994...” Safee-naaz says that the greatest threat to the SA Constitution is one that will infringe equality.

Masoodah dictates that as South Africans, seeing her ancestors struggle and strife during the Apartheid era where they fought to claim rights that the people enjoy today and then the government snatches it away from the person that is unjust. Our constitution was much fought for and it is the only constitution that resembles a First World country constitution. By demolishing such a credible constitution, we are stripping the youth and our countries citizens of their right to freedom of expression.

On the other spectrum, Yumnah suggests that the media tribunal appeal by the ANC is made with the intention of protecting mainly political members from harshness of media. It should be a beneficial scheme for all South Africans, not just a particular group – like the political parties of the country.

Lastly, on asking the candidates if they would alter anything about the media freedoms, the general views of Yumnah and Masoodah as representatives of the youth – they concluded that they want openness in the government and wish to know everything about anybody who makes decisive and indecisive conduct. Masoodah further explains that she wouldn’t inhibit the media as such, but rather it is an issue of the citizens needing to know these characters of our rulers of our country and that keeping your public and your citizens informed are the goals of the media, why rob the media of their purpose they serve to the community? - A thought-provoking statement.

In conclusion we can see that these four are representations of the millions of youth across South Africa; some are certainly informed and some not so informed on current issues in S.A. These four candidates can set an example for many other inclined youngsters of the country who wish to be involved and aware of the political state of their homeland - inclined in a way that they are proactive in understanding matters that concern their rights – in this case – the media freedoms and the information bill rights.

Sabah Ismail

Nazia Mahomed