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Freedom of Speech is wasted in SA

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Cover credit: Christoff van Wyk
The first I heard of the Kuli Roberts Racism Saga was when my colleague Chris Gilmour sent me an email on Sunday evening. It alerted me to a Tweet from the editor of the City Press that read as follows:

@ferialhaffajee: If Bullard was fired for racism then so must Avusa fire Kuli Roberts. Sunday World column on coloureds. Racist, vile, disgusting.

So I obviously went to the Sunday World website and read the offending column and wondered whether the description “racist, vile, disgusting” wasn’t perhaps a little hysterical.

Pretty soon the usual bunch of sanctimonious bed-wetters began to flood Twitter with their Kuli Roberts insults and their pious expressions of solidarity with coloured women.

The pug-faced harridan Ann Taylor can always be found at the barricades when there is a sniff of racism in the air, as can so many so-called journalists who seem to spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet either Facebooking or Tweeting.

I guess when your work is so little in demand there’s not much else to do with a computer keyboard.

Thanks largely to Ferial Haffajee, the Kuli saga really took off and the volume of Kuli hate speech increased on the internet and on radio talk shows.

Not surprisingly Avusa (publishers of Sunday World) ducked the issue by not sacking the negligent editor but rather pulling Roberts’s column and allowing her to take all the heat instead.

The first and obvious question is how can an article get into a newspaper without anyone seeing it?

The incompetent tosser who edits this rag has admitted that he takes responsibility so why hasn’t he resigned as a matter of honour?

What astounds me about SA journalists is that they seem quite happy to accept that they can be sacked for something they write but the person who publishes it walks away scot-free. Wake up, nebbishes.

Whether you liked the writing or the topic is immaterial; Kuli Roberts has a constitutional right to her opinions and to deny her that right after publication is an attack on freedom of speech. In this case it was abundantly clear that these were not her views but an attempt to mock stereotypes, which fell flat.

She has been criticised for her lack of subtlety and poor writing but let’s remember that the Sunday World is hardly aimed at the intelligentsia. You write for the market and that’s precisely what she has been doing all these years.

It’s also interesting to note from whence most of the vitriolic comment came, and there is a common denominator. It comes from people who have spent their unfulfilled lives on the fringes of mainstream journalism or as lowly hacks.

They have never amounted to much and their Tweets and comments drip with envy. This is the revenge of the nobodies which is bound to happen when a celebrity columnist is brought down.

A contributor to themediaonline.co.za wrote, “It never ceases to amaze me how so many talentless ‘celebs’ manage to attract such a huge media presence and people who have substantial qualifications, work experience and professional credibility (as well as ethics) are left out in the cold”.

Ag, shame sweetheart, maybe it’s because you’re so ordinary and achingly dull that nobody wants to publish your stuff. Just a thought.

The most fascinating aspect of all this, though, is the fact that Ferial Haffajee started the outcry and obviously lobbied hard to get Roberts booted. This is an odd thing for an editor who claims to believe in freedom of speech to do, is it not?

Or have the rules changed?

Do you agree with Bullard's sentiments? Or do you think he is still harbouring some bitterness because of his own experience? Share your thoughts below.

This is an edited extract of a column that first appeared in March 2011 and was published with permission from Burnet Media publishers.



About the book:

Out to Lunch…Ungagged is the fourth collection featuring some of David Bullard's best writing since the column that got him fired. The book is available for purchase, both online and at your nearest bookstore. Buy your copy now and be sure to check back next week - we'll be featuring a second extract from Out to Lunch... Ungagged.

For more information about Burnet Media's titles, you can head on over to their website.


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