Chairperson Ferial Haffajee said, "It's the Bill that should be banned, not the media."
SANEF welcomed the broad front of opposition to the Bill as it has been tabled in parliament. These include international and local media freedom bodies and a wide range of civic and business organisations.
Along with the African Editors Forum also meeting in Grahamstown, SANEF strongly condemned the assassination of Sudanese editor Mohamed Taha on Wednesday 7 September 2006 in Khartoum. Taha was kidnapped by unknown gunmen and brutally murdered, with his head severed.
The council also deplored the continuing exile of Musa Saidykhan, editor of Gambian newspaper The Independent, who was forced to flee after being detained and harassed by that country's intelligence agents. Saidykhan was taken from his office in Banjul after he had written a story in his newspaper about how South African President Thabo Mbeki had promised to help Gambian journalists by interceding with the government there over media repression.
SANEF spoke out against the recent harassment of journalists by President Thabo Mbeki's security staff and the confiscation of pictures taken on the day of the President's consultation at a hospital.
