Sakeliga CEO Piet le Roux said the organisation had obtained legal opinion on the provisions after realising police were either not aware of them, or willfully obstructing people from freely interacting with the media.

"Whether unjustified obstruction by law enforcement is the result of incorrect instructions to police officers from their superiors, or by incorrect interpretation of the regulations by the police officers themselves, or by wilful misconstruction of the regulations by officers with a view to gaining personal advantage through bribes or otherwise, is not of key importance," Le Roux said.

He said he had been stopped late at night while travelling home after an interview with Afrikaans language television channel Kyknet at its Johannesburg studio last week.

He said he had all the required permit documents on him, but the three officers who pulled him off the road were reluctant to accept that he was travelling legally, suggesting he was breaching Covid-19 lockdown regulations restricting travel.

Le Roux told African News Agency that he believed the issue was important because the media played a particularly important role at times when normal civil rights were curtailed, as was the case during the current state of disaster imposed because of the pandemic.

"What matters is that the media’s vital role in the maintenance of a constitutional order, characterised by a distribution of power – by checks and balances – cannot be overstated," he said.

"Given the current extensive infringements on the rights of the public and the unprecedented centralisation of power in the executive branch of the state, the ability of the media to perform its functions should be closely guarded."

The legal opinion obtained by Sakeliga from legal firm Kriek, Wassenaar & Venter argued that the latest regulations applying to the lockdown under its current level four status widened the definition of those performing essential services beyond direct staff members of a particular organisation.

The law firm submitted that the head of a media organisation may therefore authorise other persons, such as interviewees, to travel and issue a permit to them to do so.

The South African Editors' Forum said it was at this point not aware of other instances where people being interviewed by media houses had encountered similar problems.

Sakeliga was previously named AfriBusiness and has in the past received support from Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum.

African News Agency