The intention is to build a coa lition of democratic forces in South Africa to lend support to Nigerians struggling to bring about a democracy based on human rights values in their country. The committee is presently forging links with human rights groups in Nigeria to broaden sources of information in Nigeria. One of the scathing criticisms from sectors of the South African media that was heaped on the South African Government after Saro-Wiwa's execution was that official Government links had failed to deliver reliable information timeously. By the time Saro-Wiwa died the South African High Commissioner had not succeeded once in making direct contact with the Nigerian Government and nor could he confirm the executions. The Mail & Guardian newspaper noted that the South African Government would have been better informed if it had simply relied on the Reuters news agency.
The SANSC has planned a meeting with a public relations representative of Shell in South Africa to hear the company's side of the story in relation to the accusations made against it by the Movement in Support of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) and others, including the Ogoni People's Foundation in London. These include allegations of the widespread environmental devastation of Ogoni land by Shell, collusion with the Nigerian regime in the military occupation of Ogoni land and violent acts of suppression arising out of this occupation, and the lack of development income to the impoverished Ogoni people from Shell's oil drilling operations. Shell recently published full page advertisements in the South African media denying these allegations. The committee is nevertheless insisting on a meeting with the most senior representative of Shell in the country. State President Mandela has also called on Shell to respond to the allegations. After these meetings the committee will decide on how to proceed in relation to Sh ell in South Africa.
At a recent memorial function held for Ken Saro-Wiwa in Johannesburg, organised jointly by the Congress of South African Writers, Earthlife Africa and others, a representative of the committee, African National Congress Member of Parliament Carl Niehaus emphasised that South Africans would have to take their lead from Nigerians who themselves would have to lead the fight for democracy and a culture of human rights in their country.
The Executive Director of the FXI, Jeanette Minnie, was invited to join a panel of speakers at the memorial function. She said it was particularly important to realize that the acid test of freedom of expression was in allowing those whose views and values fundamentally challenged our own to express themselves:
"Saro-Wiwa was executed because he did, said and wrote things which were unacceptable to his Government. Whenever you are tempted to deny someone their right to freedom of expression, remember that you are being driven by the same forces which drove the Nigerian regime to kill Saro-Wiwa. When you deny someone the right to freedom of expression, remember that you are again killing Saro-Wiwa," she said.
"The right to freedom of expression does not mean that we have to agree with the message of the speaker. We can use our own freedom of expression to criticise and attack the messages of others. But we must allow them to speak. How else will we know whether we agree or not, or whether we have something to learn from them not or not, or whether we should campaign against them or not. Democracy means inter alia open and free debate and we must ensure that everyone has these rights," she said.