Sanef condemns police intimidation of Sapa journalist and mob attach on EWN journalist
The South African National Editors' Forum has condemned the behavior of police and some members of the public in the ongoing unrest in Soweto.
In the first incident three Soweto police officers allegedly forced Sapa journalist Mpho Raborife to delete pictures from her cellphone on Thursday. In the second incident a reporter for Eyewitness News, Leeto Khoza, was hit on the head by a rock and is presently in hospital.
Raborife drove past three Somali-owned shops in Dobsonville on her way to work when she noticed three police vehicles outside the shops. Cognisant of the unrest that have occurred in parts of the township this week, Raborife stopped to investigate what was happening at the scene. She saw two men loading groceries into a van and took pictures with her cellphone. She then left.
The police started following Raborife and pulled her over. They told her she wasn't allowed to take pictures without their permission.
Raborife showed the officers her press card and told them she was fully within her rights to take photos in a public space. One police officer said she wasn't allowed to take pictures and "leak them to the media".