1 March 2024, Mail & Guardian, Reporter
Makume admitted Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and the Campaign for Free Expression who applied to be joined as amici curiae.
The applicants failed to issue a rule 16A notice, which allows interested parties to apply to be admitted as amici curiae in cases with constitutional ramifications.
The M&G’s attorneys filed notice on 2 February and the two organisations filed papers shortly after. The MMA noted that there seemed to be a sudden tendency to ask the courts for gagging orders as part of a legal strategy to intimidate the media, the same having happened to the AmaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism last year.
The MMA rejected the applicants’ suggestion that in this instance the order would not undermine the media’s ability to report in the public interest.