(FXI/IFEX) – On 2 April 1998, two journalists from YCE Television News of Finland were allegedly assaulted by a farmer in the Northern Province of South Africa before being arrested on charges of trespassing. Journalist Kirsia Crowley and cameraman Graham Walsh were interviewing workers on the Schuitdrist Farm at Tshipise near Messina about testimony they […]
(FXI/IFEX) – On 2 April 1998, two journalists from YCE Television News of
Finland were allegedly assaulted by a farmer in the Northern Province of
South Africa before being arrested on charges of trespassing. Journalist
Kirsia Crowley and cameraman Graham Walsh were interviewing workers on
the Schuitdrist Farm at Tshipise near Messina about testimony they had
presented the previous day at the poverty hearings being held in the
province. The journalists were accompanied by two field workers of the
Nkuzi Development Association, a non-governmental organization (NGO)
involved in land issues.
The farmer, Andries Fourie, arrived on the scene and called the police.
He reportedly became aggressive and insulting; he threatened to attack
Walsh, but was stopped by the police. Fourie, however, kicked the
cameras. The journalists as well as the two field workers were taken into
custody by the police after Fourie accused them of trespassing, entering
the farm on false pretences and intimidating the farm labourers. He vowed
to lay formal charges against the journalists. They were released from
custody after a short while following intervention by the Northern
Province police commissioner.
The journalists had been following up on testimony presented by the
workers, who said farmers were illegally evicting and dismissing farm
workers who were born on their farms and who had worked on the farms all
their lives. The poverty hearings are being held around the country under
the auspices of the South African National NGO Coalition, the Human
Rights Commission and the Commission on Gender Equality. The aim of the
hearings is to allow poor people to speak out about poverty and to put
forward suggestions to policy makers on programmes which can be adopted
to alleviate poverty.
