PRESIDENT ZUMA’S CELEBRATION OF MEDIA FREEDOM DAY By Dave Steward, Executive Director of the FW de Klerk Foundation President Zuma is understandably unhappy with the
President Zuma is understandably unhappy with the treatment he receives from the media – and particularly from the print media. He is regularly depicted with a shower emerging from his head. Artists paint him with his genitals exposed. He is castigated for corruption and the media continue to hound him over the expenditure of R246 million on his retirement home.
So, it is not surprising that when he went off text during his recent address to mark Media Freedom Day, the President expressed some emotion.
800 years ago, on 15 June 1215, in a plashy meadow beside the River Thames in England, an event took place that would deeply affect the constitutional future – not only of the English people – but of countries throughout the world, including South Africa. On that day King John was forced by his barons to sign the Magna Carta – a document that introduced for the first time the notion that kings – and by extension governments – are ultimately subject to the Rule of Law.
16 November is the United Nations’ International Day for Tolerance.
In a statement issued today, the President’s spokesman, Mac Maharaj, has taken “strong exception to the attack on the South African government by the Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town, Ms Patricia de Lille”, because “she blamed government for the cancellation of the 14th World Summit of Nobel Laureates.”
According to a statement made by the Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande, during his budget debate earlier this week, “… we no longer have Afrikaans or Zulu or Tswana universities. All our universities are South African universities and must serve all the people of this country.”
World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, following the recommendation of a UNESCO General Conference.
Since then every 3rd of May is an anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek and is celebrated worldwide as World Press Freedom Day. It is an opportunity to:
International Mother Language Day (IMLD) – on 21 February each year – celebrates language diversity, variety and multilingualism throughout the world.
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FW de Klerk Foundation
129 Hatfield Street, Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa
+27 (0) 21 930 36 22
info@fwdeklerk.org
NPO number – 031-061
PBO number – 930004278
Legal Documents
Privacy Policy
