Flow commemorates Black Wednesday, the 33rd anniversary of the day South Africa’s media freedom was ruthlessly curtailed by the apartheid government.
On October 19, 1977, the apartheid regime banned newspapers The World and Weekend World and detained editor and deputy editor Percy Qoboza and Aggrey Klaaste. The Christian Institute’s publication Pro Veritate and 17 anti-apartheid organisations were also banned.
The country has come a long way since October 19, 1977 but still faces many challenges regarding freedom of the press today.
To remind people of the importance of media freedom, a silent protest march was held today in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, leaving from the University of the Witwatersrand’s Senate House entrance on Jorrisen Street at 12h30 and heading toward Constitution Hill. The march was part of Right2Know, an umbrella campaign developed by a broad range of civil society groups in opposition to the Protection of Information Bill.
Today of all days, Flow remembers the courageous journalists who risked – and continue to risk – their lives in the name of telling the truth.