The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has challenged the South Afrcican National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) to carry out its threat to write to Parliament for a request that the party’s leaders be sanctioned for banning the Daily Maverick and its investigative units from its events.
The party is holding its national elective conference at Nasrec this weekend amid tensions with the Daily Maverick following the decision to deny the media house’s reporters accreditation to the gathering.
EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu says he is confident that Sanef’s protest of its decision will not succeed as the party has the right to association.
As the party’s second national people’s assembly gets underway on Saturday, the its fraught relationship with some media houses in the country is back under the spotlight.
The EFF confirmed on Friday that it has long banned the Daily Maverick and its investigative units from covering eff events.
Shivambu says this is because the party considers the online publication a proxy of a faction in the African National Congress.
“I think it’s a frivolous complaint anyway. I don’t think there is any legitimate parliamentary process that is going to legitimize or even look at a complaint about isolating instruments of the cabal that has been working to fulfill certain political objectives.”
He added that Sanef was being disingenuou s when it accused them of being unconstitutional by blocking the media house from attending its conference.
“It’s not the first time that we have characterised outlets that call themselves media, whilst they are not media. When ANN7 which was an instrument of the criminal Gupta syndicate, we made an announcement that we are not going to conduct interviews with them and they will not attend EFF platforms.”