ACCESS TO INFORMATION - "Business Day" on March 15 reported that the Gauteng's housing department was expected to start its campaign to inform disadvantaged people on how to secure government housing subsidies. Provincial Housing MEC Paul Mashatile said on March 14 that they were going to tour the streets and use different forms of media to spread the message. The campaign, " Register Now and Wait for Your Turn", is meant to educate and help the poor to register on the housing subsidy provincial waiting list. Mashatile said that the campaign was also meant to ensure that all the people who qualify for the subsidies were properly registered and that people co-operate with the government by being patient and waiting for their turn. He said the process was geared towards ensuring that local authorities allocated subsidies in a just, fair and equitable manner. According to Mashatile, only people whose names appeared on the list would be considered for subsidies. "This initiative is part of the our ongoing efforts to improve the management of the allocation of subsidies in the province. In part, the list was meant to address allegations of queue jumping by some people. We have heard of members of the community being pushed from pillar to post when making inquiries. Through these measures we want to remove these problems and enhance good governance," Mashatile said. He indicated that the department wanted to make sure that queries from members of the public were dealt with more quickly, effectively and efficiently. Mashatile said that co-operation from the communities, councillors and officials was vital.

CENSORSHIP - "Sowetan" reported on March 17 that the Film and Publications Board presented draft guidelines on how it intends to classify films in future, including proposals to ban films with child pornography and those that promote racism. Nana Makaula, FPB chief executive officer said that the recommendations had taken two years to prepare. "The board was moving away from apartheid style censorship to the classification of films and publications," Makaula said. The board proposed that films, videos, DVDs, computer games and publications should be classified into six age groups, from those suitable to all ages to those unsuitable for under 18. According to senior officer Iyavar Chetty, the board would be seeking consensus from the public on what constituted a "harmful or disturbing" scene for children because the Film and Publications Act did not define this clearly. He said that the board had the responsibility of classifying films to a high level of restriction and of ensuring that films promoting race hatred or prejudice against groups of people were not shown in SA. Chetty said that films that promoted race hatred could be banned under the offences provisions of the Act and criminal charges could be brought against its producers. "Although the board was moving away from censorship it had already recommended to two producers to cut scenes that were considered gratuitous and not relevant to the story of the films," he said. The FPB would now be seeking input on the draft guidelines from stakeholders.

CORRUPTION - "Sowetan" on March 8 reported that the Heath special investigation unit raised concern that sensitive documents relating to allegations of corruption at Technikon SA had being destroyed by individuals at the institution. The unit's spokesperson Guy Rich said that this could hamper investigations. "For now, however, there is little the unit can do because it does not have permission to proceed with the probe. Permission has to come from President Thabo Mbeki's office in a signed proclamation. The unit has already asked the Department of Justice to process its application for a signed proclamation. Rich said that the allegations relating to irregularities at Technikon SA implicate senior officials at the institution. In one case, up to a million rands could be involved. However several individuals could ultimately be implicated. He said the Heath unit was concerned that unless the proclamations are signed soon, vital evidence could be destroyed. "This could create many problems because by the time we start investigating, people will have covered their backs". Meanwhile, Technikon SA registrar Professor Tony Links said that he was not aware that documents were being destroyed and would welcome any inquiry into the matter. Education department spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said Minister Kader Asmal had written to the Justice Department supporting the need for an investigation into the affairs of the technikon.

CORRUPTION - The "Sunday Times" on March 12 reported that a man who carved out a name for himself as a corruption buster confessed to having fraudulent academic qualifications that duped two provincial governments. Ivan Maswanganyane was recently appointed to Mpumalanga's treasury department as deputy director-general to spearhead the province's campaign against financial corruption. "Sunday Times" said Maswanganyane admitted to it that he was a fraud. Maswanganyane claimed to be a registered chartered accounted with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of South Africa and management diploma from the prestigious Harvard Business School in the US. He admitted that he did not even had a matric or a degree and that he had used a fraudulent CV to obtain senior positions. Confronted with the allegations, Maswanganyane said: "Some comrades, whom I will not name because they will kill me, doctored my CV. They said because I am good at accountancy I was entitled to a diploma and a degree which they gave me. I did not do it." Maswanganyane said that he was approached by the Mpumalanga government. "I never applied for the position because I am not even a chartered accountant," he said. Premier's spokesperson Sefako Nyaka confirmed that Maswanganyane had been head hunted from Statistics SA, which had agreed to second him as the head of treasury "to help us sort out the financial crisis". "Because we approached him for the job, his background was not rigorously checked. We did only superficial checks and then depended on goodwill. Not just anyone works at Statistics SA and for the Gauteng finance department". The SA Institute of Chartered Accountants, Public Accountants and the Auditors Board branded Maswanganyane's certificates of membership as fakes.

MEDIA AND GENDER - "Sowetan" on March 10 reported that the SA Broadcasting Corporation recently organised a seven day gender workshop which was planned in celebration of the International Women's Day. The workshop's objective was to sensitise radio producers on gender issues and to enable them to produce programmes that were gender sensitive. In her opening speech on March 8, general manager of the SABC public broadcasting stations Zamambo Mkhize, said that the media had a responsibility to present positive images. "Workshops such as these are important because we need to be sensitive to society. We have to undo some of the damage that has been done. It is incumbent upon us to work through this process on gender dialogue with our listeners. It is therefore important to use the power we have as broadcasters for the betterment of society," Mkhize said. The initiator of the workshop, producer of educational radio Molatoane Likhethe said that the workshop was specifically meant for radio producers because the medium was the most powerful. "Radio reaches more people than any other medium and the SABC feels that it is important for us to start with radio," Likhethe said.

MEDIA AND RACISM - "Sowetan" reported on March 9 that the Black Lawyers Association and the Association of Black Accountants of SA had expressed concern about how the media had so far responded to the issue of racism in the media. Presenting a joint submission at the SA Human Rights Commission hearings, a representative of BLA, Essop Patel and Hayley Qangule of Abasa said: "The issue is not about black editors and white editors. The issue is that the media continues to, in some respects, attack our dignity as a people. For us we are black people before we are professionals and these attacks affect us as individuals and the professional groups we represent. Racism has no place in this country however well disguised or misrepresented it may be". The two organisations had requested the SAHRC in 1998 to investigate the "Mail & Guardian" and the "Sunday Times" for being racially biased in their coverage of news. Meanwhile, after differences that surfaced between black and white editors at the hearings, SA National Editors' Forum chairperson Lakela Kaunda said that the forum would decide what direction to take on racism in the media. Kaunda said: "Sanef cannot survive if it does not address the differences among its members. We have to sort out the issue of racism, no matte how painful or traumatic it may be." She said that from the anger expressed by editors during their submissions, it was clear that "we have to tackle the issue immediately and vigorously". Independent Newspapers executive editor Moegsien Williams said that editors were divided on how to approach the matter. "Some people say the pace of change in the media has been too slow and other say they are doing fine." Editors, Mike Siluma, Cyril Madlala, Kaizer Nyatsumba, Phil Molefe, Charles Mogale and Khulu Sibiya indicated anger on the issue. Rapport editor Johan de Wet said that he did not understand why black editors were making such fuss about white control of the press. However, Siluma said the organisation could not survive under the circumstances. "There is no common understanding inside or outside Sanef and therefore, there can be no common solution to the problem". Giving its submission, the Mail & Guardian editor Phillip van Niekerk said that the critical question the newspaper faced since 1994 was: "How do we relate to those who rule over us now that there is no longer a white rule minority government." He invoked the commission: "For being upfront, in-your-face, hard-hitting and fiercely independent, we are accused of racism on the basis of very insubstantial evidence, and had live with this smear for 18 months."

Meanwhile, the SAHRC will extend its probe to include the advertising industry. "City Press" reported that the Association of Advertising Agencies promised to co-operate with the commission. AAA chairperson Nkwenkwe Nkomo said that the advertising industry had to transform itself. He asked the commission to be specific in its definition of racism in order for the industry to know what was being probed. More hearings, according to the Commission's chairperson Barney Pityana, were likely in April.