Limpopo journalist arrested for 'trespassing' at mayor's home
The South African Editors' Forum (SANEF) has lamented the arrest of a Limpopo-based freelance journalist for the Sunday World newspaper, Thomo Nkgadima.
Nkgadima was arrested on Sunday for an alleged act of intimidation and trespassing at the house of Eddie Maila, the mayor of Fetakgomo Tubatse Municipality.
He allegedly used a picture of the mayor's house in his news article about illegal electrical connections at an informal settlement next to the mayor's house in Burgersfort.
"SANEF is disappointed that such charges were brought forward against a journalist who was doing his job and never trespassed on Maila's property nor intimidated anyone.
"Editors at Sunday World have informed SANEF that Maila has previously threatened Nkgadima because the latter sought to do his work as a journalist," reads SANEF statement.
The municipality's spokesperson, Thabiso Mokoena, says Nkgadima entered the mayor's premises without his knowledge, which has put his safety at risk.
He says the mayor had to open a criminal case so that police could establish why they were at his house.
"Both the municipality and the mayor do not believe that the journalist and his accomplice went to the house to cover the story but for peculiar reasons known to them.
"It is a fallacy to say that the municipality or the mayor are not concerned about illegal connections. That is not what we are saying because we have never received any media query regarding illegal connections at any informal settlement."
Nkgadima is expected to appear in court again in May.
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