FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION NEWS FROM SOUTH AFRICA - NOVEMBER 27

ACCESS TO INFORMATION - On November 21, journalists who converged on the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business were told that the meeting between President Mandela and the white community, part of the electioneering trail, was not open to the media. Security guards barred journalists from entering the venue and referred them to the ANC's Western Cape spokesperson Dugmore whose cell phone was switched to voicemail. According to "Sowetan" reporter, Dugmore did not return any call at the time of going to print. Earlier, Mandela had attended two public meetings at which members of the public, coloureds and africans, were given an opportunity to raise their concerns about the ANC-led government. Both sessions, held in Khayelitsha and Athlone, were open to the media. ANC spokesperson Thabo Masebe said that the decision was taken by the provincial leadership. Closing the session led to speculation that the ANC had expected criticism and did not want the media to witness it being dressed down by the audience.

BROADCASTING AUTHORITY - Broadcasters in South Africa are concerned that the independence of the Independent Broadcasting Authority will be compromised when it merges with the SA Telecommunications Regulatory Authority next year. The two organisations will have separate licensing and monitoring departments and will not share policy making functions. They will share support departments including finance, administration, communications, legal and human resources. "The Star" reports that some industry representatives believe the merger should bring with it benefits for the IBA, arguing that sharing of resources will be cost effective. The merger will reduce the number of IBA councillors from seven to four. The Media Monitoring Project fears that the merger will sacrifice concerns over local content to concerns of commercial issues. MMP says it makes sense for the two to merge because frequencies now used for radio broadcasting may well be allocated to telecommunications networks "which is more profitable for the country and broadcasting". Meanwhile, FXI says the IBA has to defend its independence vigorously in the new entity. Acknowledging the work of the IBA council, Glynn O'Leary, chairperson of the National Television and Video Association, noted that the IBA has achieved a lot. In the past four years, the IBA has approved 100 temporary licences for community radio stations, licensed six private radio stations which had been part of the SABC, licensed eight new commercial broadcasters and licensed the new free to air television channel e.tv. Broadcasting Minister noted that the IBA work has been clouded by internal administrative problems but managed to resolve a dispute over councillors' salaries. INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING - The IBA has rejected e.tv's request to postpone the launch of its news programme scheduled for the beginning of December 1998. The management of e.tv has been left with a dilemma as the IBA warned the station to comply with its licence conditions or be faced with an inquiry by the Broadcasting Monitoring Complaints Commission. The station's CEO Jonathan Procter has blamed customs officials for the delay. Procter indicated that customs officials were refusing to clear the shipments of equipment because "certain items of equipment cannot be classified in terms of tariff regulations". The IBA says e.tv's licence conditions are binding and cannot be waived, and that it should start broadcasting news on the promised date. The IBA earlier accused the channel of contravening seven licence conditions in its first week of broadcasting, but allowed it to phase in its programming. IBA spokesperson Pekwane Mashilwane said the IBA considered that the postponement of e.tv's news programme would be unfair to the public. However, Procter said the channel would broadcast news from February 1 1999, but if circumstances permit, the channel will start before that date.

MEDIA AND ELECTIONS - A senior SABC radio executive has resigned from a strategic elections committee amid staff fears that the ANC will interfere with the broadcaster. According to "Mail & Guardian", Franz Kruger, the national news and current affairs editor, quit the elections team when a story he wrote which painted a picture of dwindling ANC support provoke a heated response from Solly Mokoetle, the head of the SABC's election coverage. Reports say that Mokoetle blew his cool at an SABC radio line talk where senior journalists review and plan coverage. Mokoetle is a former head of Radio Freedom, the ANC ‘s radio station in exile. He objected to Kruger's angle on the results of a poll conducted by the SABC, Markinor and the Institute for a Democratic South Africa. He complained that the SABC looked stupid because radio and television had run completely different angles on the poll, which found that the apathetic vote had jumped significantly. In a pre-election phase, the broadcaster becomes hotly contested terrain. The IBA will monitor its coverage from the day after the president declares an election date.

JOURNALISTS - Two South African journalists who were arrested by the Namibian police for not having the necessary documents to work there were released on November 19. The two SABC journalists were arrested on November 18 and had been in the sensitive Caprivi Strip area of north eastern Namibia, where an armed secessionist movement is reported to be operating. The SABC said it secured their release after negotiations with Namibian Department of Home Affairs.

JOURNALISTS - "Mail & Guardian" reporters Wally Mbele and Mungo Soggot were on November 26 presented with Foreign Correspondents Association Press award for their courageous investigative journalism. They were honoured by President Mandela who was the guest of honour at the ceremony. The award was established in 1995 to recognise, reward and encourage excellence in South African journalism. According to "Mail & Guardian", the awards committee said it was duly impressed with the thoroughness and persistence of Mbhele and Soggot in reporting, among other topics, corruption in the Central Energy Fund and the scandal surrounding the arrest of Robert McBride. Other "highly commended" nominees were Greta Steyn and Stephen Laufer from "Business Day", Justin Arenstein of "African Eye News" and Robyn Curnow of SABC TV.

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