The Mail and Guardian reports that the South African Government’s proposed laws restricting the speech of civil servants, NGOs and journalists may be the thin edge of the wedge that threatens freedom in general according to Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon.

The government’s proposals threaten to take South Africa back to the censorship of the apartheid era, Leon said. Media restrictions of even the mildest sort are a grave threat.

“The danger is that the government’s proposed laws restricting the speech of civil servants, NGOs and journalists might be the thin edge of the wedge that threatens freedom in general.

“It is well past time that the ANC and the president learned to deal with vociferous criticism,” Leon said

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