This afternoon at about 15h30 Bush Radio trainees were alerted that members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) had stopped and were searching a vehicle just outside its building in Salt River.
As this was a potential story, trainees went downstairs to see what was happening and cover it for Bushradionews.
As the trainees were collecting information and pictures, a police officer proceeded to come over to Busi Mtabane (host of Sakhisizwe) and remove her phone and deleted the pictures she had taken.
Other trainees and Bush Radio’s Managing Director, Brenda Leonard had to intervene to retrieve the phone which was handed back after the pictures were removed.
Below is a series of pictures of the incident taken by Programme Integrator, Adrian Louw.
Brenda Leonard has indicated that we will be taking this matter further after we have consulted with different media freedom organisations.
Busi Mtabane (far right) taking pictures of the incident
The police officer demanding the cellphone
The police officer removing the phone
Deleting images from the device as Bush Radio members try and intervene
Police saying that we could not cover the incident or take pictures
Police officer walks away after deleting photographs
Tags: 89.5FM, access to information, Adrian Louw, attack on journalist, Brenda Leonard, Bush Radio, bushradio, Busi Mtabane, cape town, constitution, freedom, fxi, media, media freedom, news, poilce, police attack, press freedom, Protection of Information, rights, South Africa, zamediafreedom
Bushradio 89.5 FM 
03/02/2012 at 4:42 PM |
This is crazy.Please proceed with the matter and seek redress!
03/02/2012 at 4:55 PM |
The Police Officers in Cape Town merely reflect the political control and their dictatorship mentality over the very people that pay their salaries. these damn public servants need to be reminded who they WORK FOR.
03/02/2012 at 5:00 PM |
Yhoor … Do they have valid reasons y the pictures shud not be taken? Mxm crazy
03/02/2012 at 7:52 PM |
Looks like they’re jumping the gun on the secrecy bill. This kind of behaviour on the part of our Police Service is utterly despicable. I urge you to take this to the highest forum in the interests of upholding respect for the law.
03/02/2012 at 8:20 PM |
I am sure there is a law against a police officer, or anyone else for that matter taking such action. They have no right to take away someone’s cell phone and access their data without a court order.
03/02/2012 at 10:39 PM |
This apartheid style heavy-handedness must be driven out of our thinking and I will make sure that I inform the world about this outrage when I address a conference in London on Tuesday, where I have been invited to come and speak about the importance of Bush Radio in the new South Africa. Is this what we were fighting for? And does that poor underpaid, undertrained and ill-informed police officer realise that he has violated our constitutional rights?
Zane Ibrahim
04/02/2012 at 2:22 PM |
The way journalists are treated in matters such as this is an indication of how our law enforcement authorities understanding of our Constitution and Bill of Rights.It is an indictment.
04/02/2012 at 5:11 PM |
Where’s the resulting radio story? I haven’t been able to find that on Bush Radio. I haven’t been able to find radio archives.
05/02/2012 at 10:01 AM |
at this stage we only make recordings available for 90 days – these are available via https://bushradio.wordpress.com/order-copies-of-programmes/
05/02/2012 at 5:20 PM
That’s too bad. Is the primary motive the need to sell copies of previous shows? It’s hard to imagine that that source of income is important enough to make it worth staying away from the archival radio audience.
05/02/2012 at 7:26 PM
Unfortunately, as a community radio Bush Radio receives very little support from commercial interests or government – we service and are run by the poorest of the poor on the Cape Flats and even though it is a small amount, every little bit helps to try and keep the lights on.
05/02/2012 at 8:38 PM |
If this is condoned, we are a Police State! Take it to the highest authorities and I hope and pray it is dealt with. This is not what we voted for…..
02/05/2012 at 3:59 PM |
[…] Cops delete Bush Radio journo’s photos […]
21/06/2012 at 2:35 PM |
Same thing happened at a gig I played . Cops came in and shut the party down , fine . But when people took photos , they did the same thing , made them hand over their phones so they could delete the pics .
25/04/2013 at 11:20 AM |
[…] Cops delete Bush Radio journo’s photos […]