Retired Judge Albie Sachs will be the keynote speaker at an event at the SABC in Cape Town, remembering Black Wednesday.
The 19th of October 1977 saw the World and Weekend World newspapers being banned along with numerous organisations by apartheid minister of justice Jimmy Kruger, as well as the subsequent detention of journalists and political activists.
A panel discussion will take place under the theme, Reflecting on 25 years of a free media: 2019 and beyond.
The panelists include SABC regional editor Kenneth Makatees, Busi Mtabane from the Right2Know campaign, and Janet Heard of the Daily Maverick.
South Africa is set to commemorate Black Wednesday – the day in October 1977 when then Minister of Justice Jimmy Kruger ordered the arrest of editors and banned The World, Weekend World and the church publication Pro Veritate, journalists around the world continue to be attacked and killed on the job.
Fast forward to 2018 and the world is still grappling with the abuse of rights of journalists. Some of them met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September.
This week, the world also awaits the response from the Saudi Embassy in Turkey on the whereabouts of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He is now feared dead.
