South Africa its provisions for censorship and heavy prison sentences – is still awaiting the signature of President Jacob Zuma to enact it into law, some three years after its passage through Parliament. Other laws that continue to plague journalists are the National Key Points Act, which prevents publication of information related to security aspects of certain institutions and buildings; the Protection from Harassment Act – which despite the good causes it serves, can restrict journalists from gathering information by “staking out” the office or home of a person who refuses to answer questions over the telephone; anti-terrorism legislation called the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act; and the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act. MEDIA ENVIRONMENT Press faces hostility from police, public and student demonstrators Meanwhile, the press is confronting another issue that has taken on a more ominous character in the past year – the increasing hostility of the police and authorities towards the press, as well as violence towards journalists by people protesting against government policies and lack of service delivery. Journalists and photographers covering the #feesmustfall protests across the country – protests directed at universities and other higher education institutions to not raise their fees, or not levy any fees at all on impoverished students – complained that they were intimidated and harassed by the police, security staff and the protestors. Government leaders continue to call the press “the opposition” and adopt prac- tices that obstruct the press and prevent the public from being informed. The press and many civil society institutions have been highly critical of the misrule, serious shortcomings in service delivery, ever-increasing levels of corruption and other deficiencies in government. In response, the government has resorted to attempts to cloak its activities in secrecy. Officials obfuscate or withhold information – including official reports that should be released. SANEF has continued to raise its concerns about police hostility towards journalists – including unlawful police actions such as deleting pictures from photographers’ cameras – at meetings with the Acting National Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Johannes Khomotso Phahlane. As reported in the last year’s STID, it was decided to compile a booklet outlining how journalists and police officers should behave at crime or incident scenes, especially towards each other. The booklet, distributed to journalists and the police, fits into a person’s pocket so that it can be taken out and presented to the police or a reporter if there are complaints about one or the other misbehaving. It is uncertain how effective it is. Journalists complain about people demonstrating in the streets attacking them, probably because they fear their pictures could result in them being identified by the police and charged in court. One of the worst instances was the outbreak of violence in Tshwane Municipality (Pretoria) in June, when there were violent disruptions over nominations for the office of the mayor in the municipal elections. Groups of residents took to the streets to voice their protests and violence broke out. A high level of hostility and intimidation was displayed towards journalists and photographers covering the unrest. A number were at- So This is Democracy? 2016 83