Vaz highlights this infuriating story about two DJ’s who have been given a week’s suspension and forced to issue a grovelling public apology because they managed to piss off Thabo Mbeki.

And what was their crime? Apparently they made “disparaging remarks” about Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo. Mbeki’s office issued this rather self-righteous statment to explain their actions:

“In the course of the discussion, the two presenters… made remarks that are not only defamatory, but also totally unacceptable and insulting towards the person and office of President Obasanjo. President Obasanjo came to our country at the invitation and as a special guest of President Mbeki. Accordingly, President Mbeki carried the responsibility of ensuring that the Nigerian President would not be exposed to any form of abuse, physical or otherwise.”

Okay, so, let me get this straight – freedom of speech means you can say whatever you like, so long as you don’t insult Thabo Mbeki’s guest? I don’t seem to remember them writing that into the constitution.

Alright, I know, I’m exaggerating. Actually, freedom of speech doesn’t give you the right to say whatever you like. And personally, I’m not a free speech absolutist. These days, “freedom of speech” is a bit of an overworked concept, and is applied to all sorts of things – kiddy porn, for example – that it was never meant to. Earlier this year, the DA voted against a new, tougher child pornography bill due to free speech concerns. I’ll concede that their libertarian instincts are admirable, but I still think that, on the substance, they came down on the wrong side of that issue.

What freedom of speech should apply to – in fact, what it was originally intended for – is political speech. And dissing a politician, regardless of his “guest” status, definitely falls under that category. In other words, this should never have happened. Frankly, what bugs me most about the whole story is the pathetic public apology that the DJ’s were forced to issue. I’d like to think that if I were in that position, I’d be angry, not apologetic. I’d like to think that I would stand up to the government bullies and say “How dare you try to take away my freedom of speech?” But when you’re in that situation, I guess you do what you can to hold on to your job.