State of the media in Southern Africa - 2003 of practice hold that reporters shall not reveal confidential sources unless the source gives the journalist permission to do so. While there is no defense in South African law which allows journalists to dodge testifying on confidential communication, protect the identity of sources or avoid handing over documents obtained during the course of their work, journalistic codes of professional practice are crystal clear on the inviolability and the importance of these values. Confidential briefings are part and parcel of journalistic practice that ensures that journalists are able to report on unfolding events with understanding, credibility and context. While Mona destroyed his own credibility by first stating satisfaction with Ngcuka’s conduct and then branding it criminal, he has also cast doubt on the veracity of journalists. Equally shocking was his use in furtherance of his own personal agenda of his position as editor to launch an unfounded vitriolic attack on a person whom only a few weeks earlier he had praised. Mona’s appearance before the Commission placed him in the invidious position of being interrogated about the sources of former Sunday Times writer, Ranjeni Munusamy’s article. Justice Hefer made a prudent ruling that attorneys should not try to discover Munusamy’s sources through “roundabout” methods while her lawyers were seeking leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court. Mona’s revelations could have seriously compromised the Munusamy’s security and the safety of her sources due to his own reckless disregard for the rules of journalism. MISA-SA regards Mona’s conduct as professionally corrupt and a flagrant abuse of media freedom that has undermined the role of journalists and their standing in the community. It has also seriously damaged the principled case that journalists have maintained against attempts to force them to disclose their confidential sources of information. ■ BACKGROUND S outh African President Thabo Mbeki set up the Hefer Commission under retired Appeal Court Judge President, Josephus Hefer to investigate allegations that the country’s national director of public prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka was a registered spy with the apartheid security forces working under code name RS452, prior to 1994 and that he had abused his mandate. President Mbeki wanted to verify allegations made by senior members of the liberation struggle in a City Press report and on e-tv who claimed that the African National Congress had investigated Ngcuka in the ‘80s for being a spy. The story was broken by former Sunday Times journalist Ranjeni Munusamy who leaked the report to rival Sunday paper, City Press after her own paper would not run the article on the grounds that the editor believed the report to be incorrect. Munusamy was subpoenaed to testify before the Hefer Commission and applied for leave to appeal against a ruling that she take the stand on the grounds that it would endanger her life and that she may reveal her sources or details of her sources under rigorous cross-examination. MISA-SA, the Freedom of Expression Institute, the South African National Editors Forum and the Media Workers Association of South Africa joined Munusamy’s application at the High Court as amicus curiae in support of the right of journalists to protect their confidential sources, and to seek clarity on the depth of freedom of the press under the South African Constitution. The coalition believes that where journalists are called before judicial and administrative bodies, they should only be called as a last resort and should not be called at all if So This Is Democracy? 2003 141 Media Institute of Southern Africa