Quick notes
Just a note of thanks to all the African bloggers who joined in Blog Action day. I learned so much from all the posts, and i hope you find something in the globalvoices roundup that resonates with you.
Via muti and Justin Hartman on twitter
Press freedom in South Africa is under threat:
I write this having just heard that the editor of this newspaper, Mondli Makhanya, and its head of investigations, Jocelyn Maker, will be arrested this week. Their crime is that they published a story alleging that the Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala- Msimang, screamed at hospital staff and drank huge amounts of booze while in hospital for a shoulder operation.
The minister, the custodian of our nationâ??s health, has denied none of these allegations. This newspaper also published allegations that Tshabalala- Msimang was a drunk and a thief. This story has not been refuted by the minister nor any other government official.
A Jaiku channel has been set up with updates on this developing story. You can read more about it here.
I am not that much of a politico 
but I realize the important link between democracy and free press. Being from Kenya where there’s always a tussle between the govt and the press, I can totally empathize with our fellow Africans in SA, and truly hope this gets sorted without members of the press being thrown in jail. Plus, bloggers are an opinionated bunch just like journalists, if they arrest a journalist one day, what’s to prevent govt’s from arresting bloggers?
On a lighter note: Here is a clip from the segment ‘Bulls Eye’ on NTV (Nation TV) Kenya. Elections in Kenya can be hilarious, and weird. ‘The pentagon?!’, day of thunder? and I dont even want to relive the whole Raila driving to parliament in a hummer. Sigh*
This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 8:51 pm and is filed under Africa, Kenya, News, Press, politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Ntwiga October 30th, 2007 at 11:14 am
“Ulisema Kanu ni mugumo, haiwezikukatwa na wembe”.
Funny how one’s words can come around full circle.
Thanks to the link to the Bull’s Eye clip: this is hilarious.
- Steve