Police bar media from Qunu
By ANDREW STONE on
December 13, 2013
This follows an order by police on Wednesday that journalists occupying
houses in the village had to move. A reporter said police had conducted
door-to-door searches to ensure everyone had heeded the call.
ANGRY DEBATE: SAPS and traffic officials block the road entering parts
of Qunu and prevented media from accessing the village. Some journalists were
kicked out of their rented accommodation around Qunu early yesterday Picture
ALAN EASON
Yesterday journalists set up on the opposite side of the road from a
police cordon barring people from entering the village, about a kilometre from
Mandela’s house.
When a Dispatch team arrived members from various media houses were
involved in a heated exchange with police.
ENCA TV news cameraman Nceba Ntlanganiso and reporter Sibongile
Mkani-Mpolweni said they were filming in the village when police ordered them
to move.
“I’m very disappointed in GCIS [government’s communication service],”
said Ntlanganiso. “We were told to go to the Qunu Museum which is far away.”
An irate Mkani-Mpolweni said they had been filming in a private
residence when ordered to move. “Now they’re telling us we can’t even film from
the road.”
Reporter Marida Fitzpatrick and photographer Felix Dlangamandla from
Beeld newspaper said they were to take up accommodation in the village from
today but had been told to move their things.
“We booked the accommodation a year in advance,” said Dlangamandla, who
declined to say how much they spent except that it ran into “thousands”. “We
were kicked out on [Wednesday] and are staying at a guesthouse in Mthatha .”
Fitzpatrick said she was left extremely disappointed. “We missed the
memorial service to be here and now we won’t even be able to cover the funeral
properly. I really feel like we have missed out.”
Other media houses told to move from the village included the Sunday
Times and American TV and radio network CBS.
Acting government spokeswoman Phumla Williams said journalists had been
told that they would eventually be moved. “They are fully aware that they are
barred from the security zone – it is nothing other than security. There is a
place allocated for them,” said Williams.
Yesterday security around Mandela’s home was increased as more than a
dozen police officers on horseback patrolled the property. They join a large
contingent of soldiers, traffic officers and police already there ahead of the
funeral on Sunday.
