Honourable Labaran Maku, Minister of Information, Nigeria
Honourable Norris Tweah, Minister of Information, Liberia
Honourable Monica Kalemba, Undersecretary Information and National Guidance, Uganda
Professor, Guy Berger
Mr Gilbert Sendunwa
Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning
My task here today is to facilitate and participate in discussions amongst my members of one's class on three main topics namely, right of access to information and practical access through information and communications technology (ICTs); promotion of access to information amongst various roles players in society and our continental and international engagements in enlisting support at the Africa Union, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and United Nations General Assembly.
The concept "access to information" means different things to different society of people. The South African society is founded on the provisions of "human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms" including the rights of freedom of the press and other media; freedom to receive or impact information or ideas and everyone has the right to access any information held by the state and any information that is held by another person.
Equally section 36 of the Constitution provides for limitation of rights in terms of law of general application to the extent that the limitation is reasonable and justified in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom. It is my view that the Bill of Right in the Constitution supposed to be the glue that holds the South African society together and every citizen must adhere to upholding the Constitution.
Subsequent to the provisions of the Constitution we have passed the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 give effect to the constitutional right of access to any information held by the State and any information that is held by another person and that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights.
Issues of media freedom and access to information are a challenge to the community of people globally. This year, 2011 twenty seven media workers have been killed throughout the world and some are languishing in prison cells and some part of the world and press and media freedom is barred.
I wish to argue that media and press freedom is not the domain of the media alone; it is a societal issue, government included. I believe the media in particular does not expect government to be a spectator in the discourse regarding the role of the media and freedom of the media.
You will agree with me that governments’ role in this discourse cannot be relegated to role of a stepchild. Governments will have a direct interest in how we shape and locate the role of the media within the context of access to information and freedom to receive or impart knowledge or ideas.
South African Government promotes the plurality and diverse views in the media and is convinced that by supporting media organisations owned by the community it is one way of achieving plurality and diverse views in society.
The media must also play a role as a nation builder by ensuring it assume the responsibility of developing Africa and unite its people – promote Pan Africanism and not intolerances such as xenophobia. Africa is the richest Continent in the world with massive mineral resources, whereas its people remain poor and in abject poverty.
The advent of internet and smart phones presents us with an opportunity as a community of nations to accelerate our efforts to continually promote access to information especially to our people in rural areas. Majority of our population are using various social media networks and through such platforms we can communicate and promote access to information and in various respects this will help organisations to communicate better with society and stakeholders.
Social media is one platform, which can enhance communication and begin to shape the thoughts of society as society evolves. Our major task as African Governments is to ensure that we rapidly roll-out info-infrastructure to promote access to information and promote free flow of information and ideas.
Each member of the panel will be given three minutes on each topic to share experiences of their respective countries as a spell them one-by-one and thereafter you will be awarded an opportunity ask clarity seeking questions.
Let’s converse and I will start with …
Opening remarks by Deputy Minister of Communication Obed Bapela, South Africa, at the Pan African Conference on access to information roundtable discussion of government Ministers held at Cape Town International Conference Centre
