Dylan Bettencourt
A journalist was arrested after an altercation with police at a voting station in Orlando East, Soweto.
The police said Ziniko Mhlaba from Newzroom Afrika was interfering with the IEC’s presiding officer.
Newzroom Afrika denied their journalist interfered with any official at the voting station, stating that their journalist had the right to cover the elections.
“Mhlaba was accredited by the IEC to cover the elections and had every right to do so. Neither he nor the cameraman contravened any of the provisions of the Electoral Act at any point, nor did they interfere with the work of the IEC officials on duty,” the publication said in a statement.
The exchange between the journalist and the police was televised live on Monday morning with Mhlaba repeatedly questioning why he was being taken away. Many on social media voiced their anger at the police for preventing Mhlaba from exercising his right to press freedom.
He was later released.
“The matter has been escalated to the Provincial Commissioner of Gauteng who ordered both the release of the journalist and an investigation into the matter,” said police spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo.
The spokesperson added that it is unfortunate that the exchange between the journalist and the police ended with Mhlaba being removed from the voting station.
The video shared by Newzroom Afrika at around 10.30am has gained around 120,000 views with thousands of Twitter users sharing and commenting on the video.
Katy Katopodis, news director at Newzroom Afrika said their journalist was put in the back of a police vehicle and handcuffed.
“We can see the marks on his hands. He was then thrown into a police holding cell,” she told CapeTalk radio station.
Katopodis said the media publication is furious about the incident and have taken it up at the highest levels of police and the IEC in what they described as an “attack on media freedom and an abuse of power by police.”
Over 3.5 million South Africans had cast their ballots across the country in the local government elections by 3pm on Monday.
Video source: @NewzroomAfrika
