Special Hearings — Media Hearings — UNKNOWN

MOEGSIEN WILLIAMS: Mr Chairperson, we in trying to pull this submission together, we tried to consult and speak to as many people involved in alternative media in the Western Cape and I am just going to take out a number of quotes on the kind of categories that Rashid dealt with here.	On the question of the factors leading to the formation of the alternative media, I am quoting Ryland Fisher, who was a media worker in "Grassroots" and "South" and today he is the Editor of the Cape Times and I quote him.  He says, speaking about the alternative media, it was born out of the desire by community organisations to have a choice, to have access to news from the Cape Flats, townships and rural areas.  This was news not being reflected in the main stream media.	I am quoting John Esau, who is sitting to my left here, who says, people wanted their local service to be known, they wanted to share and learn about other people's struggles.	Derrick Jackson, who was very much a persecuted media activists in Oudtshoorn and the Chief organiser at Saamstaan, and I quote him, he says apart from the politics, issues that effected the majority of the people, such as the price of bread or bus tickets, were generally not considered newsworthy by the main stream newspapers.	Mantsoo Jaffa, who was an organiser in Saamstaan and "Grassroots" and I quote him, it was not just a newspaper giving information, but also a base for community activism and for recording the views of large sectors of society, that was simply never heard.	On the question of the State's response Mr Chairperson, I quote Saliem Badad and he says "Grassroots" was formed in 1980.  Within a month, the first Editor John Esau was banned.	He was followed by Lila Patel, who is now the Director General of Social Welfare and Pensions, and then Saliem Badad became organiser in late 1983 and I quote him.  I had two long periods of detention from August 1985 to October 1985 and from October 1985 to January 1986.	In January 1986 I was restricted from having any contact with the media or educational organisations.  Other people also detained in that period were Ryland Fisher, Mantsoo Jaffa and Rashid Seria.	Quoting John Esau, he says the police were quick to recognise the threat represented by "Grassroots" and other alternative media.	One of the first consequences was my own detention on May, 25 1980.  I came out in August, but in December the police decided that they had had enough and I was banned.  The conditions were so strict, I was not even allowed to pass a book to my wife.	I could not have anything to do with any media whatsoever, and that lasted for three years.	Derrick Jackson who operated in Oudtshoorn where I think repression was probably the most severe, has the following to say.  The State responded with periods of detention without trial, usual 14 days detention under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act.  At one stage, virtually each and every morning when we got to the offices, glue had been put into the locks, meaning we would have to break down the doors and replace the locks.	They would phone you at home in the early morning, swearing at you and trying to intimidate you.  A member of the Security Police once phoned me and identifying himself and warning me bluntly that he was going to wipe me and Reggie Oliphant who is an MP in the National Assembly, and then Chairperson of Saamstaan that they would be wiped off the face of the earth.	Ryland Fisher says and I quote him, because "Grassroots" was effectively a mouthpiece for community organisations, we suffered all the harassment and intimidation that community organisations suffered.	So our media workers were detained in the same way that community activists were.  Lila Patel says I cannot actually remember how many issues of "Grassroots" were banned, but we tried to cover the news in such a way that we were able to get the message out.	There was also harassment around the newspaper and it was a struggle to maintain the political space in which to operate.  	I quote Ryland Fisher again,"there was a period under the state of emergency when we were in the Cine 400 complex in Gatesville", which is a township near Athlone and he says,"some of us had been detained and released, but we could not go back to our offices in case they detained us again".	We all went into hiding, while the police posted a 24 hour guard outside our offices.  At that time we had to produce "Grassroots" from safe houses and the boots of our cars.	I quote Mantsoo Jaffa again, 		"The first reaction was from the typesetter in Oudtshoorn who worked on our first edition.  He was obviously visited by the Security Police because after the first edition in 1984, he said he would continue doing our work, but only the sport stories".	The Security Police also visited people who were interviewed, we had interviewed for a story on housing.  Most of them were pensioners and were subjected to questioning about all this.	I quote Saliem Badad again, virtually every second issue of "Grassroots" were banned by the Publications Control Board after it came out.  It didn't effect distribution much, but it made you cautious because if you got banned three times in a row, you were suspended in terms, I think, of the Publications Control Act.	And finally I quote Mantsoo again on Saamstaan, where he says,		"We used to use couriers to take our proofs from Oudtshoorn to Cape Town to the printers.  Once when we went to collect the papers, the printers told us that they had already been collected and that was the last we heard of them.The Security Police got there before us."  Mr Chairperson, that is more or less giving an idea of the kind of harassment that the alternative press had to endure during this period.

MR LEWIN: Could you show us some of the pictures that you had as well?   If I could just ask one question which is to assist us as much to comment on your submission.	And obviously yes, we would be very pleased to have a fuller submission and we are very grateful to you for having put this together so quickly.  So obviously if there is more that we can get, we would very much like that and that can become part of the record.	Part of your submission you say and I think you actually cut this, but you say in terms of recommendations for the Commission as to the future of the media in our country, so you could include a suggestion the publications like "Grassroots" could be studied as models and as a means to give the masses access to the media.	Could you comment on that because the brunt of your submission has been to suggest that alternative, the alternative press defines itself quite specifically in a political sense.  And obviously in a very specific political sense and we are talking about, it is very much, these are struggle publications.	What concerns me is that if one looks at what has happened to those publications and what for instance has happened to the publications of a similar nature, like Speak, Learn and Teach, Work in Progress, all the alternative media in this country, have died since the change.	What do you particularly as the people who actually ran them and Moegsien as Editor of one of the major papers in Cape Town, what ideas do you have and how can we actually put meat on these suggestions that there should be an alternative paper?