ACCESS TO INFORMATION - "Sowetan" on June 28 reported that a Northern Province doctor has appealed to President Thabo Mbeki to intervene in his case following unsuccessful appeals to health authorities and subsequent refusal by government to renew his licence. Dr Andrezj Kochan blew the whistle on alleged malpractices that resulted in the death of two patients three years ago. Kochan said that his crime was to break the silence on malpractices by two underqualified doctors at Maphutha Malatji Hospital and a cover up by senior doctors. According to the newspaper, when Kochan submitted his report, a senior doctor at the hospital pleaded with him to change his findings to exonerate negligent doctors but Kochan refused. Kochan appealed to Mbeki to protect those who expose corruption in whatever form, otherwise people will be tempted to turn a blind eye to malpractice. Addressing Parliament on June 25, President Mbeki said the government will adopt an approach of partnership with the people in the fight against corruption. He said "We must ensure that we pass the Open Democracy Act and move speedily to ensure the implementation of the provisions relating to the protection of whistle-blowers.

DEFAMATION - "The Sunday Independent" on June 27 reports that Mpumalanga Premier Ndaweni Mahlangu who is under fire for saying it is acceptable for politicians to lie is facing two defamation actions. One is from the former Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa and the other one from Magistrate Heinrich Moldenhauer. Phosa is suing Mahlangu for R1million in damages for his suggestion that Jacques Modipane, the suspended MEC who Mahlangu reappointed to the provincial cabinet, had been put up to lying by Phosa. Modipane claimed at an inquiry last year that his signature on the promissory notes worth R340 million, which later resulted in 32 provincial game reserves being illegally used as collateral for massive offshore loans, were forged. Mahlangu claimed that Modipane had told him in private that he had lied about the forgeries. Phosa's lawyers served Mahlangu with papers on June 25 and he was given until June 28 to retract his suggestions that Phosa was a corrupt premier. Phosa's lawyers have also threatened to seek a high court interdict prohibiting Mahlangu from further publishing any defamatory statements concerning him. Moldenhauer is also consulting his lawyers to institute a defamation suit against Mahlangu. Moldenhauer chaired a commission of inquiry into the fraudulent issuing of driver's licences in Mpumalanga in 1997 which declared the then safety and security MEC Steve Mabona unfit for public office due to his role in the licence scandal. Mabona was forced to step down by Phosa but was reappointed to the provincial cabinet by Mahlangu. "I am certainly consulting with my lawyers to see what course of action to take. I can't leave such a defamation of my character to go unchallenged," Moldenhauer said.

DEFAMATION - South Africa's former ambassador to Canada and Italy and one-time deputy director-general of foreign affairs, Glen Babb, is suing a publisher for R400 000 damages for defamation. According to "Sunday Independent" Babb has sent a letter of demand to HarperCollins, represented in South Africa by Jonathan Ball Publishers, over allegations about him in the book "Dangerous Deceits: Julian Askin and the Tollgate Scandal". Babb is described in the book as having a close relationship with the Italian official responsible for former Tollgate chairperson Askin's illegal 10 week incarceration in Florence in 1994 and is said to have been a member of PW Botha's state security council. Two former members of the Civil Co-operation Bureau Abram van Zyl and Leon Maree also sought an urgent interdict against Jonathan Ball Publishers in the Johannesburg High Court. Van Zyl found that he had been accused of being among apartheid's executioners, from the book. He was also charged with being responsible for an attempt to kidnap Askin in Italy and the organiser of a murder attempt against Askin, both on behalf of Absa Bank. Maree was referred to as Van Zyl's preferred hitman and a psychopath who took real pleasure in his work. Both Van Zyl and Maree said the passages were untrue and defamatory and that the distribution should be banned as the book would damage their good names and have "a severe negative effect" on their business prospects. Jonathan Ball said the application for an urgent interdict was futile since the book was already in bookshops and that the application of Van Zyl and Maree represented a serious attack on freedom of expression. He also argued that the reports of 1990 Harms commission and the 1998 Truth Commission contained serious allegations against CCB members, including Van Zyl and Maree. Meanwhile, Absa Bank denied instructing anyone to kidnap and kill Askin and said the book is full of obvious inaccuracies which undermines its credibility and casts serious doubts over the intentions of the writer.

COURTS - Carmel Rickard reported in June 27 "Sunday Times" on Judge Dennis Davis' concern with the standard of court reporting. Judge Davis had handed down two long and complex judgements in terms of section 51 of the 1997 Criminal Law Amendment Act which lays down that rapists must be sentenced to life imprisonment unless the court finds "substantial and compelling circumstances" for a lesser term. According to Judge Davis the court reporters misreported what he had said. Rickard says that court reporting is the most underestimated of journalistic skills. Almost universally, lawyers and judges have a low opinion of such journalists and their work - often, it must be said, with justification. But, says Rickard, the causes of the problem are complex. The average court reporter must cover what happens in too many courts. There is enormous pressure to file reports, but cases are postponed and adjourned month after month and it is difficult to know when a case will provide a proper story. Journalists are often sent to court in the middle of a case, without an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the issues. Many cases involve legal technicalities which a journalist must interpret in a clear but interesting way to readers. Yet, despite all these difficulties, court coverage is left to the most junior of staff. Rickard also welcomed Judge Davis' decision to clarify what he had said as well as his decision to offer reporters at the Cape Town High Court a crash course on legal reporting. Like all judges, Davis is accountable to the public through the decisions he gives. To facilitate this "conversation" with ordinary people, judges depend on the media, for while their judgements can be communicated to other judges and lawyers through official law reports, their only link with the public is through the media. That is why the media have got to get it right.

PUBLIC BROADCASTING - On June 25, "Mail & Guardian" reported that the South African Broadcasting Corporation news supremo Snuki Zikalala dismissed rumours that he wanted to ditch a joint venture news agreement with the British Broadcasting Corporation when the contract expires next year. According to the newspapers, tension between the two broadcasting teams has been reported before, but there have now been suggestions that the SABC could move to sever ties completely. Zikalala confirmed there had been teething problems, but said he planned to renegotiate the contract in November before its expiry next March. He said the partnership was important to the SABC's international coverage. "The joint venture produces the respected PM Live news show on SAfm and provides other SABC news shows with access to the BBC's international network". Zikalala rejected suggestions that one source of tension was attempts by pro-ANC SABC managers to meddle with the political content of the news. He said any interventions he made were only for the sake of balance. According to the BBC representative in London, the BBC believed that the contract would be renewed as the project was reasonable and long term.

RACISM - "The Star" reported on June 25 that authors and academics, both black and white said that the axing of a Cullinan school teacher over a Herman Charles Bosman short story was uncalled for. Chris Roos was dismissed on June 23 following media reports stating that black parents had protested and accused the school of racism after grade 6 pupils wrote an English exam paper based on the story "Unto Dust". Roos said that his intentions was to show "that in the face of death we are all the same, as depicted in the book. He said he explained to the pupils what the message in the book and the offensive word "kaffir" was all about. I "explained to them that the word is insulting, illegal, racist and offensive, but also told them why it was used then and in the book," said Roos. According to "The Star", scholars of literature said the word "kaffir" was viewed out of context by black parents. Dr Lionel Abrahams, who was taught creative writing by Bosman in the late 40s and edited most of Bosman's work including "Unto Dust", said Bosman did not mean to offend anyone. "I understand the sensitivity shown by black parents, especially given the times we are living in," he said. Professor Abraham Mawasha, head of the department of language methodology at the University of the North said that parents' overreaction could be understood, but at the same time children should be encouraged to know where we come from. Film maker and author Johnny Masilela said " It will be a tragedy for the creative process if we parents, both black and white deny our children the opportunity to read Bosman with his very wry sense of humour".

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