Johannesburg - The EFF welcomed Thursday's judgment in which the Equality Court sitting in Pretoria dismissed the SA National Editors’ Forum application to gag party leader Julius Malema and the EFF from bad-mouthing journalists.
“Journalists who take a side using journalism as a platform to pursue the propaganda interests of politicians, must never be regarded as journalists. When they descend to the arena, they must be treated as having taken sides and no longer acting in the professional interests of journalism," the party said in a statement.
They added that “from all accounts, it is clear that these journalists, together with Sanef, have made the EFF their personal project, seeking to discredit it, whilst promoting Ramaphosa and Gordhan.” In dismissing the application, Judge Daisy Molefe said journalism is not an inherent and immutable quality. It is a career choice for which an individual opts and it is thus falls outside the jurisdiction of the Equality Court.
Sanef and journalists Barry Bateman from Eyewitness News, Pauli van Wyk of the Daily Maverick, Adriaan Basson from News24, veteran journalist Max du Preez as well as Ranjeni Munusamy, claimed Malema was engaging in hate speech.