• I greet you today in the name of Freedom and Democracy.

• I would like you to imagine that I am standing behind prison bars.

• Because if the Protection of Information Bill had been in existence in 1999, when I exposed Arms Deal corruption, I would still be serving out a 25 year jail sentence.

• Instead of Schabir Shaik and Tony Yengeni, I would have been the one to be thrown in jail.

• As it is, when I exposed Arms Deal corruption some in the ANC accused me of being unpatriotic.

• I want to say very clearly to the millions of South Africans out there today – there is nothing more patriotic you can do than expose corruption by politicians that think their positions give them the right to steal from taxpayers and the poor.

• This Bill is a serious threat to our democracy.

• Although if it is passed we may still have the structure of our democracy in place, the restriction on the flow of information will have eaten away its substance.

• Instead of this Bill, we should be putting in place legislation to make it easier to gain Government information, because we are already struggling to access important information and whistle blowers do not enjoy the protection they should.

• It is clear that most of the ANC leaders that have come out in support of this Bill are leaders that have in the past faced allegations of corruption in the media.

• At usual, instead of looking at the message, they want to shoot the messenger.

• The media, which is the messenger of the truth, cannot be blamed – when the crooks in Government are caught out then it is the media’s duty to report on it.

• They must stop lying to us about the reasons for this Bill.

• They just don’t want the media to report on their corrupt activities.

• We cannot allow them to hijack our democracy.

• The Media Tribunal proposal represents a second full frontal assault on the media.

• How can we have politicians sitting in judgment over the media?

• It is absurd to give politicians the authority to sanction journalists, when our journalists are already having to work under enormously difficult circumstances.

• Our journalists should be supported and we should be trying to create the best possible environment for them to practice their profession.

• It is also ludicrous for the ANC to claim that they are doing this because when the poor are defamed they cannot afford legal fees.

• It is not the poor who are constantly exposed for corruption, or the poor who are shown to be misusing state resources.

• Instead, it is greedy ANC politicians that want to line their own pockets with money they have stolen from the poor, and they don’t want taxpayers and the poor to know about it.

• It is the poor who are suffering as a result of these abuses and journalists must continue to expose the truth without fear or favour.

• If anyone is defaming the poor it is the ANC.

• I know what it is like to fight for freedom of speech.

• The Speaker of Parliament tried to restrict my freedom of speech in Parliament and I took her all the way to the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal, where I won. This is what the late Judge Ismail Mohammed said in the Supreme Court of Appeal on the 26th August 1999.

• [14] This enquiry must crucially rest on the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. It is Supreme - not Parliament. It is the ultimate source of all lawful authority in the country. No Parliament, however bona fide or eminent its membership, no President, however formidable be his reputation or scholarship and no official, however efficient or well meaning, can make any law or perform any act which is not sanctioned by the Constitution. Section 2 of the Constitution expressly provides that law or conduct inconsistent with the Constitution is invalid and the obligations imposed by it must be fulfilled. It follows that any citizen adversely affected by any decree, order or action of any official or body, which is not properly authorised by the Constitution is entitled to the protection of the Courts. No Parliament, no official and no institution is immune from Judicial scrutiny in such circumstances.

• We will do the same again on these two threats to our democracy.

• All South Africans who value the Freedom we won in 1994 must use their democratic right to fight for this principle.

• We did not fight in the struggle against Apartheid so that we could have 16 years of Freedom, before returning to the censorship and deceit of the 1970s and 1980s.

• The more things change the more they stay the same.

• The only way to protect our right to speak out, is to speak out!!!

• God help us, please South Africa, stand up before it is too late!



For media enquiries, please call Patricia de Lille on 084 777 2065