Democracy in action

Earlier this week I read an article in the Financial Times about an American congressman named John Culberson who is doing something rather controversial. He’s using new technologies over the Internet, to provide live coverage of, and commentary on, Congressional committee meetings.

Culberson has been using his cell phone to send short messages to the internet via the social networking service, Twitter, and now he’s also started sending live video feeds directly from his cell phone, using a new service called Qik (For the FT article see http://ft.onet.pl/0,13117,a_qik_from_new_technology,artykul_ft.html. The Qik site is at http://qik.com/).

Qik allows a direct video feed from a cell phone to be streamed live to a web page. Viewers can type comments and questions back, which the phone user can see and respond to.

According to the newspaper article, the congressman says he’s doing this to enable citizens to take back control of government — it’s opening up the US Congress to public scrutiny in a completely new way. Apparently Culberson also tried to provide a live Qik feed from the Oval Office when he went to the White House to meet with the President — but he was blocked from doing that.

Qik may be new in allowing live video feeds, and Culberson may be getting a lot of publicity because of his position, but others have not been slow to become citizen journalists by using the potential of the Internet to place public representatives under scrutiny.

For example, the blog, Mzalendo (www.mzalendo.com/) provides detailed coverage of debates and discussions in the Kenyan Parliament. It’s the brainchild of two Kenyans — Ory Okolloh, and someone known only as “M”. On their site, they say they started the project was started because they “were frustrated by the fact that it is difficult to hold Kenyan Members of Parliament (MPs) accountable for their performance largely because information about their work in Parliament is not easily accessible.” They have certainly been instrumental in beginning to change that situation.

Anyhow, inspired by this example, I went off on Tuesday to the South African Parliament, to sit in on a public hearing held by the Portfolio Committee on Communications. They were discussing a proposed amendment to the Broadcasting Act, which will allow members of the board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to be removed. (This is the latest in an ongoing dispute between the Committee, the SABC Board, and the SABC CEO, which has been covered in earlier posts on this site.)

When I arrived, a civil society coalition formed to mobilise for changes in the SABC, were making their presentation to the Committee. They were arguing that if the Act is amended, the changes should go further and incorporate measures to make sure the SABC board is free of political interference and that the Corporation is run in the interests of all South Africans. The discussion afterwards was lively and interesting.

I didn’t have time to do a proper citizen journalism job and report on the proceedings in detail, but I did haul out my cell phone and snap a couple of pictures. I also took some short audio recordings, just to prove that I could (one of my pics is attached to this post — a bit out of focus, I’m afraid).

Amid all the news we’ve had recently of attacks on the judiciary, and crises in our major institutions it was very heartening to me to be reminded that as a South African citizen, I am free to walk into Parliament, and sit in on almost any of the proceedings, and see my elected representatives at work. I can take photos, notes and sound recordings (even video) if I want to, and am free to publish the results. And to do all of this, all I need is some sort of ID to get through security. I don’t have to be a card-carrying journalist, or have any special title or position.

Of course, most South Africans live too far away from Parliament to be able to do this, but among those who are in easy travelling distance, I reckon far too few take advantage of this right, and go and monitor what’s going on.

I highly recommend it. It’s a great reminder of what democracy is all about.

(This post first appeared on the Citizen Journalism in Africa site on 7th August: www.citizenjournalismafrica.org)

A soap opera unfolds at the SABC

SBoy, am I glad I don’t work at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) at the moment! It’s been a week of drama. First the CEO, Dali Mpofu announced he was suspending the head of news, Snuki Sikalala. Then the next day we woke up to the news that the Board had suspended the CEO.

All of this, in turn, comes after Parliament’s Communications Committee passed a motion of no confidence in the SABC board last week!
(http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=6&art_id=vn20080501063442739C583465)

Many commentators have been saying that this is part of the battle between the Mbeki and Zuma factions in the ANC. So, it goes like this:  Snuki Zikalala is known as an Mbeki man, and he was suspended by Mpofu, who perhaps used to be an Mbeki man but is now apparently in the Zuma camp. Mpofu was then suspended by the Board, which is believed to be loaded with Mbeki supporters, and the board has been censured by the Parliamentary committee, which is full of Zuma’s people.

It’s rather like one of the SABCs own very popular soap operas. The only difference is that any scriptwriter who dared come up with such a plot would be fired for being too far fetched!

The tragedy is that no matter who wins in the end, it can no longer be denied that the SABCs independence as an institution has been seriously compromised.

But the SABC is a strange animal. Most of this news, as it was unfolding, came from the SABC itself. I listened open-mouthed in my car yesterday as SABC’s current affairs teams brought us blow-by-blow commentary. In radio, in particular, the current affairs teams of serving the various stations enjoy a fair deal of autonomy and while the SABC as a whole is in a sad state, it must be said that there are still many good, dedicated journalists there, with integrity, who are doing their best in the circumstances.

But of course turmoil like this is bad for morale. I know – I worked at the SABC for most of the 90s, and from about 1993 the organisation has been pretty much in permanent transition. The SABC has seen some of the most talented and dedicated journalists in SA pass through its doors, only to leave again when they could no longer stand the constant politicking and upheaval. I shouldn’t be surprised to see a new wave of good people leaving in the wake of this latest debacle.

Meanwhile, there is another point to be made from all of this, which is that we are seeing an increasing number of top officials sitting in limbo, as they wait out sometimes indefinite suspensions — as The Citizen newspaper has pointed out (www.google.com/calendar/render?tab=mc): “Other notables who find themselves in limbo are National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi and National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli. Then there’s the famous safe driver, Ekurhuleni Metro Police Chief Robert McBride, who’s not officially suspended although he’s not supposed to be at work.”

In my head I keep hearing the voices of Zimbabwean colleagues and friends, who have told me many times: “we see the warning signs that your democracy is in danger — it starts slowly. Watch out.” I wonder what they are thinking as they observe the latest events unfolding. I’m too scared to ask.

This post first appeared on the Citizen Journalism in Africa portal – www.citizenjournalismafrica.org