The ruling class - whether the economic or the political elite - love
secrecy, and big business as we all know is usually the originator of
corruption, so they do not want that exposed.
The crude
analysis, coming from many in the ANC, that says media ownership explains journalists' opposition to
the Bill does not explain, for example, the New Age's opposition - they're owned by Pres. Zuma's friends the Guptas; nor the generally critical tone of the public broadcaster; and the small but spunky Mail and Guardian is not owned by big
business but by a Zimbabwean, Trevor Ncube. This analysis betrays a shallow understanding of how media really works. Yes, ownership and diversity issues are critical, but it is much more complex
than that.
Journalists, if they are true to their profession (which is to
uncover the truth, in the public interest), do not like censorship or
blockages to information, and they push for maximum openness. The onus
should always be on government, or corporations, to make the case that
certain types of information (for security reasons, or for market
competitive reasons) be kept secret - and that should be kept to the
absolute minimum.
Democracy thrives on maximum openness - empowering the people with
transparency and knowledge about what rulers do in their name. This
Bill still errs on the side of excessive secrecy. In other words, as Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi said today, the Bill is unbalanced in favour of secrecy.
The ANC faction in power
today will regret passing this Bill when their faction is not in power
tomorrow - the tenderpreneur faction, fronted by ANCYL president Julius Malema, does not support this Bill for nothing. His iron rule over the Limpopo province, as suggested by Fiona Forde in her recent biography of him, will extend to the whole country.
What we are heading towards, if we allow it, is not the mass participatory democracy promised by the RDP, but a more ominous Russian-type managed democracy, or low intensity democracy - try and
keep maximum power at the centre, put cronies in to run constitutionally independent bodies, and rule from the top down, with elections and
one-dimensional 'majoritarianism' as your source of legitimacy.
Big business is happy with this, as long as they have freedom to
make profit. They only complain if their ability to accumulate comes
under threat. Otherwise they have no real interest in democracy (except
a managed 'democracy', which also legitimizes their right to
accumulate).
Workers, on the other hand, understand the need for maximum transparency and access to information - from their government at all levels (as well as from the companies where they work, or from which they buy or suffer their pollution). This is why Cosatu, coming from a bottom-up democratic culture, opposes this Bill. The SACP, with its its top-down 'vanguardist' legacy, will live to regret
its collusion on this, when they no longer sit in government.
