SECTOR 1 Following the killing of 44 striking miners by police at Marikana in August 2012, and the subsequent commission of investigation into the massacre, a number of journalists reporting on the subject received threatening phone calls. The few brave journalists who are tackling government on certain promises it has made were noted by the panel, but they are definitely in the minority. Journalists at the state broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), seem particularly fearful to express themselves. They do not want to be seen to go against instructions from their bosses, but neither do they want to be branded as opposition supporters (i.e. the Democratic Alliance [DA]) and unpatriotic by their colleagues. “It is becoming a culture now. Certain things are just not mentioned.” A few civil society organisations also feel they cannot express their ideas freely without fear. This is especially true of smaller projects that depend on government funding. “They fear that if they speak out and actively campaign for certain controversial ideals, they will suffer by being branded opposition supporters, and will thus lose out on funding, especially in the health and education sector.” Very worrying is the comment that even members of parliamentary monitoring groups are forewarned not to raise certain issues “because parliament can make your lives very difficult”. Fears are particularly strong in rural areas where patriarchy plays a very dominant role. This was evident during hearings about the Traditional Courts Bill, where people did not feel free to express themselves in what is a supposed “participative democracy”. However, the growth in social media appears to be the “game changer” for freedom of expression, with citizens commonly speaking their minds. Sometimes, however, this happens to an extreme degree and in a thoughtless way, leading to possible retribution. Hawks10 spokesman, McIntosh Polela, for example, was fired in May 2013 for recklessly publishing on Twitter the previous year: “I trust Jub Jub’s supporters gave him a jar of Vaseline to take to prison.” Molemo ‘Jub Jub’ Maarohanye, a famous musician, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for murdering four schoolchildren while drag racing. 10 The Hawks is a Unit within the Police’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations. 16 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SOUTH AFRICA 2013