South Africa
Counsel for the Speaker, Baleka Mbete
disclosed the State Security Agency
(SSA) had installed the cell phone blocking equipment and in the statement, the
SSA described the signal jamming as
an operational error by the member on
duty. The SSA went on to say that it was
responsible for threat and risk assessment, and on the day was supporting
SA National Defence Force efforts to enforce airspace security.”1 This supported
Minister of State Security, David Mahlobo’s explanation that the cellphone jamming was installed to protect the president and Parliament against attacks by
remote-controlled drones.
Minister Mahlobo and President Zuma
held a meeting with the SA National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) at which they promised this would never happen again. Indeed, at another meeting with the media
Zuma condemned the jamming.
The one positive element noted by the
media was the speedy response by the
authorities when the journalists complained about the jamming. The authorities immediately disabled the jamming
device.
Part of the “security measures” taken
that day, included police officers disguised as waiters who then swooped in
on members of the Economic Freedom
Fighters, the opposition party led by
Julius Malema after they disrupted the
proceedings.
The EFF MPs started off by calling for the
President “pay back the money’’ - a reference to the Public Protector’s demand
that he pay government back the money
spent on features at his country estate
at Nkandla in Kwa-Zulu Natal which
1 Source: South African Press Agency as published
in AllAfrica: South Africa: Signal Jam ‘An Error’ State Security

the Public Protector declared gave him
``undue benefit’’. Soon after, the heckling deteriorated into physical confrontations between MPs which is when the
VIP Protection Unit police members
were called in to remove the EFF members from the House. Instead of filming
the skirmishes, the parliamentary TV
broadcasting team focused their cameras on the Speaker and failed to show the
turmoil and unruly behaviour that had
erupted on the floor of the House.

While the (Cybercrime)
bill includes many
progressive clauses,
experts have warned
that the bill is too
broad and encroaches
on constitutional freedoms placing excessive limitations on the
right to access information, right to privacy, and the right to
freedom of expression
and opinion.
Media organisations, Sanef, Primedia
and Media 24, immediately made an

So This is Democracy? 2015

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