November 2012, for example, the Public Works Ministry declared Nkandla a national key point and said that prevented them from releasing any figures. JOURNALIST SAFETY Increase in police threatening and assaulting journalists As in 2013, we are saddened to report that 2014 was another year marked by police brutality against journalists in South Africa. Photographers, in particular, suffered unfairly at the hands of the authorities in 2014 with many incidents recorded of photo-journalists being targeted while covering demonstrations – the most shocking case resulting in death. On 13 January 2014, police shot dead freelance journalist, Michael Tsele, in the North West Province where he was covering a local protest against the community’s lack of water and sanitation services. Bystanders said Tshele was photographing broken water pipes (the reason for the water stoppage in the township) when he was shot . An eyewitness told the Sunday newspaper, City Press, Tshele did not have any weapon in his hands, saying “the only threat he posed was that his camera was recording evidence of what the police were doing.” The official investigation into the shooting concluded Tshele was likely to have been caught in the crossfire between protestors and police. While community members say they witnessed Tshele being shot by a police officer because he had a camera and was taking photographs. Photographers, in particular, suffered unfairly at the hands of the authorities in 2014 with many incidents recorded of photo-journalists being targeted while covering demonstrations – the most shocking case resulting in death. Just days after the shooting, on 18 January, the Daily Sun claimed police assaulted one of their journalists, Ricky Dire, after he photographed the police allegedly accepting a bribe from Chinese shop owners in Rustenburg, in the North West. The Daily Sun reported that police insulted and assaulted Dire, confiscated his cellphone and deleted the pictures from his camera. Police threatened to detain Dire over the weekend, but the lawyers for the Daily Sun secured his release after five hours. Private citizens and groups lash out at media workers The above outlines some of the disturbing cases and allegations of police obstructing journalists while carrying out So This is Democracy? 2014 53