The South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) has called on Gayton McKenzie, leader of the Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Minister of Sport, Arts, and Culture, to withdraw his instruction that party leaders and supporters stop speaking to journalists.

McKenzie announced the ban this week during a campaign walkabout in Westbury, Johannesburg, ahead of the 4 November local government elections. “But we feel the media is biased against us. They are only reporting negative things, so we made the decision … to ban the media," he told reporters. He said the decision was “nothing personal” and that journalists could still take photographs, but party representatives would not give interviews. Bodyguards in PA T-shirts, openly carrying assault rifles, shouted at a photographer not to take pictures of them.

In remarks on TikTok, McKenzie also told party representatives to concentrate on campaigning rather than engaging with the media.

In a statement, SANEF said the PA was entitled to criticise reporting and to challenge inaccuracies at the Press Council. But it said a blanket instruction not to engage raised concerns about “the space for individual expression and public debate”.

“As a Cabinet minister, McKenzie has sworn to uphold the Constitution,” SANEF said, pointing to Section 16, which protects freedom of expression, including media freedom. It also reminded the PA that the Electoral Code of Conduct requires parties to respect the media and to take reasonable steps to protect journalists from harassment, intimidation and assault by their representatives or supporters.

“Political leaders should answer critical reporting with facts, corrections and engagement,” SANEF said.