Checkpoint: Introducing The Anchor's Perspective

The credibility of mainstream media is increasingly being questioned worldwide. Readers and viewers are critical thinkers, correctly challenging status quos. Adding pressure to traditional journalism is that news is available everywhere these days, while reliable sources are not. Putting together this week’s episode reminded us at Checkpoint, of the critical role we play in the dissemination of accurate information.

Earlier this month Checkpoint cameraman Tshepo Dhlamini found himself engulfed by the chaos that spilled into the streets of Johannesburg, in the aftermath of a court battle between the city and its hawkers. Street traders had been abruptly removed from pavements in October, in a “clean-up” campaign ahead of this weekend’s G20 summit. Tshepo captured colourful scenes of jubilant foreign nationals, who now dominate street trade in the CBD, singing “This is our home”. On the opposite side were South Africans, telling them in more aggressive terms to “Hamba”. Publicly South Africans are vocally afrophobic, but privately, we’ve developed a dubious dependency on African migrants. It is this very phenomenon that is the subject of this week’s Checkpoint episode.

While the city was verifying hawkers to allocate designated trading spots, the illegality of some of them was brought into sharp focus. Checkpoint struggled to find foreign nationals willing to be interviewed on camera, until a young man who claimed to be Tanzanian, volunteered to speak, with his identity unhidden. He told us he and other foreign traders pay R3000 per month in rent to a South African named Nkosi for trading stalls in the CBD. We’d heard of stalls being rented out by South Africans before, but Nkosi’s alleged fee sounded excessive. So, our hunt for Nkosi began. We wanted to expose this South African who is making a killing through the exploitation of foreign nationals while disadvantaging locals in the process. It later turned out, the Tanzanian we’d interviewed, was not only NOT Tanzanian, he was not a street trader. The stall we’d found him near, was not his, nor was it being rented from “Nkosi”.

Fact-checking is non-negotiable in the line of work we do. It takes time, is arduous and sometimes sucks the spice out of a piece of news, but it’s an ethical obligation and our own guarantee stamp of truth. In the end, the fibbing “Tanzanian” had to be removed from the episode but the truth behind his lie remains. Some South Africans are indeed subletting stalls to undocumented foreign nationals, who don’t qualify for permits. They profit from a shadow economy in contravention of the city’s bylaws and the country’s laws. This trend is what has contributed to street trade in the Johannesburg CBD being dominated by foreign nationals who are being told daily to “Hamba” over loudspeakers while quietly being assisted to stay at a fee.

This week’s Checkpoint episode forces us all to question our own hypocrisy where the issue of immigration is concerned. Don't miss it this Sunday at 7:30