SECTOR 1 Suna Venter, one of the ‘SABC 8’ journalists who was fired for objecting to former SABC Chief Operations Officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s policy of no longer airing footage of violent protests, died at age 32 from a cardiac condition related to severe stress. One panellist noted that she had been ‘literally hounded to death’. ‘For journalists, receiving death threats has become so common that we don’t even take them seriously anymore. It’s a bit like corruption: the numbers don’t matter anymore. We receive threats from all quarters and it definitely numbs you to some degree, in the same way that ‘state capture’ numbs you. It’s no longer a horror. We have been desensitised.’ ‘We are starting to see the commitments to the constitution fast evaporating [with regard to freedom of expression].’ Concern was raised about the safety of citizen journalists or bloggers who fall outside the mainstream media domain, and therefore the possible protection that could be granted by it. Panellists also highlighted the distinction between those who are ‘urban, educated and English-speaking’ who can find ways to be heard, even at the upper echelons of government, while the ‘poor, rural and non-English-speaking’ have a very limited ability to be heard. ‘The rural population’s voices are definitely much more marginalised than those in urban areas.’ Traditionally men are more vocal, while women’s opinions remain in the shadows. ‘We need to understand how we measure indigenous engagement. Men speak openly at the kraal and then say they are going to “sleep on” an issue, which really means they are going to consult their wives who are quiet in public but affect change in more subtle ways, behind the scenes. We must understand: do we want to Africanise democracy or democratise Africa?’ Mention was also made of environmental activists being murdered or threatened for standing up against environmentally destructive industrial projects. With issues around hate speech becoming more common in South Africa, notably with the high-profile cases of Penny Sparrow2, Vicky Momberg and Adam Catzavelos3, there was sense that ‘South Africa is showing its readiness to address racism as an area of expression,’ especially when expressed on social media platforms. 2 3 12 Penny Sparrow referred to black South African beach-goers as ‘monkeys’ on social media in 2016. She was convicted in the Scottburgh Magistrate’s court for this racist comment and given a 5,000 ZAR fine as well as a two-year suspended prison sentence. She was also fined 150,000 ZAR by the Equality Court. Adam Catzavelos posted a video on social media in August 2018, celebrating the lack of black people at his holiday destination in Greece and using the K-word. This caused a national outcry. Adam is still in Greece and has stated that he has no immediate plans of returning to South Africa. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER SOUTH AFRICA 2018