It’s been a spicy few weeks for media freedom in South Africa. From the arrest of Wa Afrika, to the hearings on the Protection of Information Bill, as well as the Media Appeals Tribunal being supported by all manner of cadres – it cannot be said that there hasn’t been a vibrant national discussion around the media, it’s relation to the State, the ANC and our constitutionally protected right of freedom of speech.

It makes sense that our headlines and airwaves are being drenched in concern over media freedom – when it is the mainstream media that prepares, produces and publishes so much of what we consume. To get the story in South Africa, at least as far as daily print is concerned, you only really have a handful of voices to hear – either Avusa, Independant or Naspers Media24. Is that a good thing for South Africa? It may be, but I would suggest it isn’t. The concentration of our media space into the hands of a few is unfortunate and should be remedied.

Enter the ANC, the self-appointed voice of ‘the collective’. Media concentration in the hands of the few might annoy some in the ANC (Wasn’t Cyril Ramaphosa once heavily involved in Johnnic [now Avusa]?); but it certainly isn’t at the heart of the ANC’s attack against the media, although they are more than happy to use it as a smoke screen for their true intentions regarding the media and freedom of speech. It doesn’t take a genius to see the link between the ever increasing stories of corruption and malfeasance on the part of cadres deployed within government as reported in the press, and those very same cadre’s desire to have punitive measures taken against the media, who report their ever widening and deepening criminal activity both within the public and private sectors by ANC officials.

This week has seen the international media take a hold of this story. Journalists the world over LOVE stories of media crackdowns, and when they come from far flung and partially forgotten places like South Africa, with the World Cup achievement fading in the international consciousness by the minute, they especially love it – because the story won’t undergo any sort of in-depth analysis or reporting, and can rather be filed and stored in the ever increasing file of ‘broken Africa’ stories weeping liberal hearts in the developed world read over breakfast on a Sunday morning.

What is the impact going to be on our economy and international standing, if the will of a few criminal cadres to muzzle our press (it’s quality, or lack thereof aside) succeeds? The impact will be deep and long lasting, as the world becomes brutally aware that the South African miracle is severely compromised by a one party state that will stop at nothing to maintain and entrench its grip on power, and the feeding frenzy on the public purse which that facilitates.

There are three distinct issues that the media freedom debate has brought into stark contrast:

• The ANC’s top and central structures are under the control of elites who look after their own interests at the expense of the common citizen.
• The ANC doesn’t distinguish between it’s will and the will of the State. This is a very dangerous blurring of the lines between political party and government of the people.
• The many voices of disagreement towards acts like the muzzling of the media within the ANC are silenced by the will of ‘the collective’; i.e. the rich and corrupt cadres who have fed from the trough of State spending

Where does this leave the opposition? Bleating about freedoms and threatening legal recourse. This is all good and well, and should be protected under the rule of law. But there is a deeper issue that the opposition to the ANC should address – the issue of double standards and crying wolf.

Firstly, on the issue of double standards. We often hear from the opposition when, let’s call them ‘middle-class’, rights are under attack; such as land reform willing-buyer, willing-seller, and freedom of speech and freedom of the media. This is good in that it addresses freedoms entrenched in our Constitution, and the protection of the Constitution, and our bill of rights should be the aim of all South Africans. But the voices of opposition fall silent when faced with the failures of the ANC’s policies in enacting some of the more radical and socially trans-formative rights entrenched in our constitution.

Where are the official opposition when it comes to matters of social justice, gender equality, housing and water and land reform? They are certainly well right of the South African zeitgeist. This isn’t to say that those in opposition do not draw attention to these issues, but they never get as agitated about the rights of the poor (who surely form the majority of our citizenry at present) as they do about the rights of the middle class and economically powerful. This may be because the ANC doesn’t attack the rights of the poor, they simply do nothing to deliver to them, while the ANC does attack the rights of the economically active, since both ANC cadres and the economically active in South Africa are contesting for the wealth of the nation, whilst the poor are left alone and in a cycle of perpetual decline.

However, to the common South African, this righteous indignation on the part of the mainstream media, civil society and the official opposition, to be concerned about bills such as the Protection of Information Act, and the Expropriation Act (in the past, defeated), whilst not mustering the same outrage and distress when many South Africans don’t have access to adequate and humane water, shelter, food, education and health care stinks of a double standard. This must surely be one of the reasons why the opposition is unable to wrestle away more poor and working class votes from the ANC: because the opposition seems unable to be their champion to the same degree that they are when it comes to minority and tax payer interests.

Secondly, the shrill cries in opposition to the attack on media freedom by the ANC as of late, is not the first time or the last time the opposition cries out that the ANC is trying to completely destroy the constitution and the very existence of our country. This is a DANGEROUS long term approach. Why? Because with each tweaking of situation or policy or bill, the ANC further entrenches the perception both within itself and within the broader body politic that they are the true arbiters of political will. The elevation of Zuma to the presidency was similarly screamed about in opposition circles, and yet our country has not collapsed under his leadership (although one may argue it has becomes a less politically stable place). This reinforces the ANC’s contention that his presidency should be facilitated by a political settlement of his many legal troubles. YES, this did subvert the rule of law – but did that make one iota of difference to the millions of South Africans who wouldn’t know the difference between the Constitution and a role of toilet paper because neither are palpable realities in their simple, crushing and inhumane existence?

When more important freedoms and rights are trampled on by the New ANC, long divorced from the principles of the Freedom Charter and the Old ANC-led Struggle, to aid their transformation of our country into an entity to enrich themselves at the expense of the common South African, the Opposition will no doubt raise their voices, and once again cry wolf. But will the poor and downtrodden, ignored by both the ANC and opposition, be able to rise up against the onslaught of elites from both sides of the aisle? I don’t know. But what I do know is that when such a time comes neither the opposition or the ANC will like the judgement of the forgotten and silent South African majority.