MEDIA AND GOVERNMENT - "The Star" on August 23 reported that Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota has not muzzled his military spokespeople; rather, the communication process in the SA National Defence Force is under review with a view to transforming the image of the force. This was his response to allegations by the SA National Editors Forum that he was becoming an apartheid monster who wanted to withhold information from the public. "I spent 13 and a half year in apartheid prisons and there is no way I will be called an apartheid monster," he said. "Certains arms of services had called press conferences to make public certain matters even I as minister did not know. This cannot be allowed to happen. In the interests of transformation and the image of the SANDF, I have called for an evaluation of the delegation of these powers. Lekota gave the assurance there was no effort to deny information to the media or the public". He did, however, agree that there were people in the SANDF who could well have reached the conclusion that he was telling them not to make any information available. "This is untrue," the minister said.

MEDIA AND RACISM - "Sunday Times" on August 27 reported that the SA Human Rights Commission said that it could investigate individual journalists and media organisations if complaints were put before it. "Nothing prevents us. If we receive a complaint against a newspaper or an individual we will do what is necessary," said Barney Pityana, chairperson of the SAHRC. Pityana was speaking after the commission released the final report of its inquiry into racism in the media. The report is the culmination of an almost two year process that started with complaints to the commission about racism in the "Sunday Times and "Mail & Guardian" authored by the Black Lawyers Association and the Association of Black Accountants of South Africa. "Sunday Times" said the report characterised all South African media as "racist institutions" that display insensitivity and a "reckless disregard for the effect of racist expressions". It said the finding held, regardless of whether there was conscious or unconscious racism. Among other things, the report recommends the establishment of a statutory regulatory framework that uniformly deals with all the media; the aggressive recruitment and training of black staff; regular workshops for journalists to promote equality and human dignity and the establishment of cadet training programmes fir aspirant journalists which would ensure that an understanding of the Constitution and human rights was integrated into the training received. The report also urges Sanef to embark on training programmes and organise conferences to look at the effectiveness of media codes of conduct. Sanef chairperson Mathatha Tsedu said that Sanef accepted the challenges and have organised a colloquium for October with Rhodes University, to look at training needs. Commenting on the report, Democratic Alliance spokesperson Dene Smuts, said that the Commission was attempting to place race considerations above freedom of speech, which was constitutionally guaranteed. Smuts said "The SAHRC finding of racism in the media was meaningless. Its recommendations that the print media should be regulated missed the point that the justification for regulating broadcasting was the scarcity of variety in the electronic field. FXI welcomed the report and said that it believed that the report contained a genuine attempt to balance freedom of expression rights with the rights to equality and dignity. "We are particularly pleased to note the positive recommendations relating to training, racism awareness sessions, cultural and media diversity and the endorsement of the establishment of a media development agency. FXI will certainly be looking at how we as an organisation can take these matters forward".

JOURNALISTS - "Sunday World" on August 27 reported that South African cameraman Gugu Radebe, who returned home on August 26 after being thrown into jail with three other journalists filming in Liberia, described his ordeal as "living hell". He was reunited with his wife, Lorraine and two sons after flying from Liberia where he was held in Monrovia central prison as a suspected spy. "Ironically, our mission in Liberia was to show how the international community dumped the country after promising to help it economically if free and fair elections were held," Radebe said. Radebe said the worst mental torture was inflicted on fellow captive Sorious Samura, the world acclaimed Sierra Leonean journalist. "The police threatened to cut out Samora's heart, eat it and write "Cry Samura" with his blood. These guys were saying that in scorn of his award winning film "Cry Freetown", Radebe said. He said that this was the worst experience in his 16 years of covering Africa. Liberia's state controlled media had demonised him and fellow detainees. They were freed after former President Nelson Mandela intervened. Before the four were released, SA media organisations staged a demonstration at the Liberian embassy in Pretoria to protest their detention.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS - On August 23, "Sowetan" reported that in a bid to speed the awarding of South Africa's third cellular licence, Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri has lodged an application for leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court against a Pretoria High Court decision which in effect prevented her from granting the licence. "The minister is appealing in terms of Rule 18 of the rules of the Constitutional Court against the verdict on July 28 2000, handed down by Justice NJ Coetzee," said a statement released by her Pretoria office. Ministeria spokesperson Brian Sokutu said that Casaburri planned to argue whether it was permissible for a court of law to prematurely restrict or interdict her from making a decision pursuant to a recommendation by the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority now the Independent Communications Authority of the High Court had ruled in favour of an application by rival bidder Nextcom that Casaburri may not award the licence pending a review of the selection process. The application followed Satra's recommendations that Cell C be awarded the licence. Sokutu said that Casaburri planned to argue that her supposed executive intervention in the recommendation by Satra was constitutionally permissible as a matter of good government in the public interest.