Sanef worried by police 'strong-arming'
Johannesburg - A report about police
allegedly bullying a Port Elizabeth TV crew to hand over footage of xenophobic
attacks is worrying, the SA National Editors' Forum (Sanef) said on Thursday.
The Herald newspaper reported on Monday police in
Port Elizabeth allegedly "bullied" staff at community TV station Bay
TV to hand over video footage of xenophobic attacks in the city's Booysen Park
area, Sanef said in a statement.
The footage showed a Somali man being beaten to
death and foreign shops being looted.
"Bay TV deputy station manager Lungile Nduvane
claimed that on Friday 7 June... police bullied staff by using 'strong-arm
tactics' to force them into handing over video footage," Sanef said.
Nduvane claimed that despite Bay TV having handed
over the footage to police at the time it was aired after the attacks, police
entered Bay TV's offices with a warrant to search and seize the memory card
with the footage on it.
"Two detectives then threatened to break the
place down and arrest me for obstruction of justice if I didn't hand it over to
them," said Nduvane in the report.
The Herald reported that the police's Brigadier
Miranda Mills denied there had been any intimidation and said the video footage
was crucial to the police investigation.
"We want to identify the people involved and
for this we need the footage. It is important for the case," she said.
"We obviously need all of it. I can state that
all the correct procedures were followed and that necessary paperwork was in
place."
According to the report, police applied section 205
of the Criminal Procedure Act.
This allowed for demands to be made on journalists
to reveal their sources or what they knew about an alleged crime.
Memorandum of understanding
Sanef was concerned that police failed to abide by
the memorandum of understanding reached between Sanef and the ministers of
justice, and safety and security on 19 February 1999.
"That memorandum lays down that, before
resorting to section 205, an opportunity must be provided for the matter to be
referred to the national director of public prosecutions, to enable
consultations and negotiations between all stakeholders to be held," Sanef
said.
Sanef called for the Independent Police
Investigative Directorate (IPID) to investigate the matter and the police's
failure to abide by the memorandum of understanding.
"The conduct of the police at Bay TV could
have the effect of the TV journalists being labelled police informers, which
could endanger their lives," the forum said.
"The memorandum of understanding accepts the
need for the balancing of the interests of maintaining law and order with the
right of freedom of the press and the media."
- SAPA
