Subscribe & Follow
M&G falls foul of NPA Act; a dark portend of things to come
![Blacked-out Mail & Guardian lead story, Friday 18 November 2011. Pic by .](https://biz-file.com/c/1111/87846.jpg?1)
If (or, more realistically when) that is denied, the newspaper will challenge the law on constitutional grounds. It hasn't escaped anyone's notice that what amounts to censorship of the media will become increasingly common, should the Protection of Information Bill be voted into law next week.
It's every editor's nightmare: having your lead story threatened with legal action hours before publication. This Friday, 18 November 2011, the Mail & Guardian was set to run with an article about an investigation into presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj. Instead, the paper has had to resort to slapping a "censored" graphic across its front page, and the story itself is heavily redacted.
The information that the M&G would have published, in a story by senior investigative reporters Sam Sole and Stefaans Brümmer, relates to the Scorpions' now-defunct investigation of Maharaj, during which he gave evidence under oath in terms of Section 28 of the National Prosecution Authority Act. "Just learned that the NPA Act has sections as bad as #secrecybill. Your M&G will look butchered tomorrow. Blame Mac Maharaj," M&G editor Nic Dawes tweeted shortly after 6pm on Thursday 17 November. He explained the situation in more detail to Daily Maverick.
"There's a section of the NPA Act called Section 28, which deals with confidential interviewing processes that they may conduct under oath during their investigations," Dawes said. "The part that we're falling foul of here is a very little-known addition to the act, which says that no person without the permission of the national director (of public prosecutions) may disclose any information about the record of evidence given at that investigation, or any of the relevant documents on pain of a fine or a period of imprisonment not exceeding 15 years, or both."
Continue reading the full story on www.dailymaverick.co.za.
For more:
- Mail & Guardian Online: Censored: A buried trail of lies
- Mail & Guardian Online: Invoking fears of censorship: Mac vs M&G
- Mail & Guardian Online: The Mac behind the big cheese - editorial that has been redacted on legal advice
- News24: Mail & Guardian explains censorship
- Google News Search: Mail & Guardian Mac Maharaj
For More list added at 10.58 on 18 November 2011.
Source: Daily Maverick
![](https://biz-file.com/b/1806/42090.jpg?2)
Daily Maverick is a unique blend of news, information, analysis and opinion delivered from our newsrooms in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa. There are many ways to describe exactly what we do (and for the price of a cup of coffee we’re capable of talking your ears off about it), but the best way to understand the end result is to experience it. Every part of Daily Maverick is free-to-air and no payment is required, although free registration is required for a small subset of functions and pages.
Daily Maverick is run by an independently owned, private company with no affiliation to any other media group (or political party or religious organisation.) Follow Daily Maverick on Twitter at @dailymaverick.
Go to: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/![Theresa Mallinson](https://biz-file.com/b/1103/67969.jpg?2)
About Theresa Mallinson
Theresa Mallinson has lived and worked as an itinerant writer, subeditor and sometimes teacher, plying her trade in such exotic destinations as Vaduz, Dubai, and Cape Town. But that's all changed since she became a journalist at the Daily Maverick (www.thedailymaverick.co.za) and managing editor at Free African Media. For now, she's very happy to be living in Jozi. Follow her on Twitter at @tcmallinson and contact her on moc.liamg@nosnillam.asereht.![](/res/img/s.gif)