ADVERTISING- "Business Day" on July 4 reported that e.tv was to appeal against a ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority ordering the broadcaster to alter the wording and placement of a national billboard campaign advertising one of its programmes. This follows a public outcry objecting to the advertisements' sexually explicit content. The billboards, which feature questions such as: "What if the condom comes off when he's inside me? Nomsa. Age 13" and "I had sex. Will I die? Simphiwe. Age 14," publicise a programme called S'camto on e.tv in which adolescents talk about sex. The programme and below-the-line publicity is funded by Lovelife, which represents a consortium of nongovernmental organisations concerned with the promotion of adolescent sexual health. Lovelife was the creative force behind the campaign, and was responsible for the copywriting function. Both e.tv and Lovelife expressed surprise at the ruling and e.tv said it will appeal against the ruling as it is about freedom of expression, even though the campaign and programme is coming to the end of its run. The complainants, most representing religious organisations, took their case to the ASA arguing that there was no justification for explicit sexual terminology in such a public place. "The ASA has failed to address our argument that sensitivities over children's loss of innocence need to be balanced against the potential loss of life resulting from Aids," said channel director Quraysh Patel. Lovelife campaign spokesperson Judy Nwokedi said that one of Lovelife's primary concerns on the ASA's ruling was to reduce the rate of HIV infection in teenagers by directly addressing sexual behaviour.

CORRUPTION - "The Citizen" on July 3 reported that the African National Congress demanded that Mpumalanga Welfare MEC Busi Coleman publicly answer detailed legislature questions, about a secretive R100 million pension tender contract, that was alleged to involve spies and front companies. According to African Eye News Service, legislature speaker William Lubisi confirmed that Coleman had violated legislature regulations by simply ignoring the written questions from opposition parties for over seven weeks. She has also repeatedly refused to answer media questions about the alleged role of her husband and senior National Intelligence Agency spy Tedd Coleman in the deal. Opposition parties allege that Coleman has shares or other indirect interests in the winning Empilweni Investments consortium, which has been contracted to administer the province's pension system for the next three years. "It is true that Coleman has violated legislature regulations by not answering the official written questions and we have therefore requested the ANC's leader of government business, Jacob Mabena to force her to answer in detail at our next sitting at the end of July," said Lubisi.

DEFAMATION - "Sunday World" on July 2 reported that a group of outraged Potgietersrus councillors were suing Johannes Sebola, chief executive officer of their council for almost R1 million after he allegedly abused his authority and tried to fire them on trumped-up charges. The group of ANC and Freedom Front councillors was dismissed in January on allegations that they had failed to pay rates and taxes and later reinstated in April after an internal investigation found that the charges were unfounded. The internal probe also found that Sebola had overstepped his statutory authority by trying to fire elected politicians and had used an outdated law to justify his actions. The ANC has pledged its support in the action against Sebola, saying that he ignored warnings from the party and had acted unilaterally.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS - The new authority to regulate both the telecommunications and broadcasting industries, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, was legally initiated on June 30. Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri announced the names after President Thabo Mbeki approved the nominated councillors. Icasa replaces the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority and the Independent Broadcasting Authority. It will be chaired by Mandla Langa. Other members are Willie Currie of Satra, Libby Lloyd of the IBA, Yasmin Carrim, a commercial lawyer, Langa Ncetezo of Eskom, Julia Hope, a satellite engineer, and Neels Smuts of Sentech.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS - "Business Day" on July 3 reported that the winning Cell C consortium had claimed that members of a rival bidder Nextcom asked for up to $100M to distance themselves from the legal action. This follows the legal protests against the awarding of SA's third cellular licence. Nextcom denied that any of its members had tried to blackmail Cell C, claiming that Cell C had repeatedly offered them money or a stake in its consortium if the case was dropped. "They have approached about eight individual shareholders, offering them money if they influence Nextcom to stop the case," said Nextcom director Lawrence Petersen. Nextcom is seeking an interdict in the Pretoria High Court to prevent Communication Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri from issuing the licence, pending a judicial review of the entire process. Cell C director Zwelakhe Mankaza said he had evidence to prove elements within Nextcom had attempted to blackmail Cell C. "We are calling their bluff. The only purpose behind their action is to blackmail Cell C by holding the process to ransom. One of its directors asked for $100m and a group of Nextcom shareholders asked for a 20% stake to distance themselves from the court action".

Scandinavian bidder Telia-Telenor is also planning legal action in a bid to dethrone Cell C. Both Telia-Telenor and Nextcom claimed that members of the SA Telecommunications Regulatory Authority were determined to see Cell C win, but neither would say what motives they would try to prove in court. Meanwhile Cell C said it would challenge the court application of Nextcom. Satra initially recommended that the licence be awarded to Cell C. However, Nextcom won a court case earlier this year requiring Satra to give its reasons for this recommendation and Satra complied with that. Nextcom then requested a judicial review of Satra's decision-making process and its recommendations, claiming that there had been extensive procedural irregularities. Matsepe-Casaburri's spokesperson Brian Sokutu said that the minister would abide by the court ruling.

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