The bad old days
It has taken the ANC just 13 years to reverse course and head back towards the days of the old National Party and the oppression of anyone who disagrees with the government. Just 13 years and the ANC has started to undo the Struggle.
The Sunday Times has published an article about how the editor of the Sunday Times and its head of investigations, Jocelyn Maker, are going to be arrested for being in illegal possession of Manto’s health records. To add to this, they are going to be brought before a Magistrate in Cape Town and charged. While the two may have committed a crime by being in possession of those records, the big question is whether this is something that should be pursued? The police official overseeing the investigation, Director JJ Brand, has stated that he is under pressure from “Pretoria” to expedite this case. Clearly this is Manto’s revenge for being embarrassed in the public press.
There is apparently a concerned effort to smear the editor and his staff and I wouldn’t be surprised to see additional charges being laid soon.
I can’t help but wonder whether this is yet another instance of government officials taking action against their critics under the guise of seemingly legitimate police action and with a view to silencing them or punishing them for their insolence. If this is the case then we really are heading back to a police state and we can expect to see Mbeki welcoming Mugabe as a misunderstood comrade in the near future, once Mbeki has changed the Constitution and had himself appointed President for Life … hopefully by that point my family and I will be on our way to a new life in a real democracy.
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sunday times, editor, arrest, manto, national health act, government, oppression, anc, police state, bad old days, national party
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