ACCESS TO INFORMATION/ PRIVACY - The government is to amend the tax laws to allow for the names of tax offenders to be published in the Government Gazette. It will also examine the current secrecy provisions contained in numerous fiscal laws to assess how these could be amended to enhance tax morality and revenue collection. Finance Minister Trevor Manual told Parliament on March 11 that "tax evasion imposes higher tax rates on honest taxpayers. It is only right that those who pay their due should know whose tax default they are paying for." The Commission on Revenue Services currently has the power only to publish the names and particulars of persons who had been convicted of certain offences in terms of Value-Added Tax Act. Manual is proposing that these powers be extended to include taxpayers who give false information or fail to furnish documents when asked for them, employers who do not deduct employees’ tax or issue false certificates, or anyone who has been convicted of offences in terms of any of the country’s tax laws.

MEDIA OWNERSHIP AND DIVERSITY - A major new media conglomerate is in the offing in South Africa if a merger deal between New Africa Investments Limited (NAIL) and Johnnies Industrial Corporation Limited (Johnnic) goes ahead. The "Business Day" newspaper reports that negotiations around the deal are already underway and that cautionary announcements to this effect were published in February by both companies. NAIL, through its media company, New Africa Publications, owns the "Sowetan" newspaper and a substantial stake in the Gauteng-based commercial radio station, Radio Jacaranda. Johnnic, through Omni Media, owns Times Media Limited (TML), which in turn owns the "Sunday Times" and "Business Day" newspapers. TML also owns a range of magazine titles, including the "Financial Mail". Reports say that the merger will likely involve the collapsing of Omni Media and its incorporation into Nail’s media interests. The "Sowetan" reports that the new conglomerate may launch new titles, including a new Sunday newspaper. It reports further that there is a distinct possibility that the new group may buy the "Citizen" newspaper, which is currently owned by Perskor. The "Sowetan" also reports that beyond print media, a new company formed through a Nail-Johnnic merger will also control pay-television M-Net, through Omni Media’s 39 percent stake in the television concern. Meanwhile, NAIL announced on March 15 that the chief executive of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Zwelakhe Sisulu, would head the new media company that will be created as a result of the merger. He is expected to take up this position on April 1, but according to the SABC, he will have to remain as chief executive until September when his contract expires.

JOURNALISTS/WATCHDOGS - A journalist at "The Star" newspaper, Hopewell Radebe, came under cross-examination on March 13 at a commission of enquiry into allegations of misconduct against Gauteng Provincial MEC for Safety and Security, Jessie Duarte. Radebe was called to testify about a news conference called by Duarte in February, during which she reacted to allegations that she was the driver of her official vehicle when it was involved in an accident in October last year. Radebe informed the commission that he had spoken to various editors at his newspaper about the journalistic ethics of taking part in the hearing. He said he realised that by participating he would be subjected to cross-examination but did not believe this would discredit him as a journalist. During the hearing, the legal representative of two other officials implicated in the allegations, Fezile Memani, asked to see Radebe’s entire notebook in addition to the four pages of notes photocopied for the commission. Memani suggested that the notes might have been fabricated. However, after the notebook was examined by Commission chairman Marumo Moerane and co-commissioner Stan Sangweni, Memani was informed that there was not reason to doubt its authenticity. Later, Duarte’s legal representative, Reenen Potgieter, also requested access to other pagers in Radebe’s notebook that mentioned his client. Radebe’s representative argued that journalists produced their notebooks in good faith, but to allow the notebook to be scrutinised by Potgieter and Memani could open it up to the public. Moerane ruled subsequently that the parties could have access only to the four pages relating to the commission’s inquiry.

JOURNALISTS - The Department of Home Affairs has decided to go ahead with an order to expel the wife of "Sunday Independent" journalist Newton Kanhema from South Africa within 30 days. Earlier this year, a letter ordering Kanhema to leave the country within 21 days was not served on him because he had already left on a four-month sabbatical at a university in the United States. The department claims that Kanhema did not qualify for the exemption from permanent residence granted to him and his wife because he had not been continuously resident in South Africa for a five-year period before July 1 1996 as required. The department further alleges that Kanhema "deliberately and knowingly" ignored the fact that he did not qualify for the exemption. Both Kanhema and the "Sunday Independent" dispute this, claiming that he does qualify for an exemption. The "Independent" is also arguing that it is in the interests of the country that Kanhema and his wife be allowed to retain their status as permanent residents. Independent Newspapers chief executive Ivan Fallon said: "The proposed deportation of Kanhema and his wife as a result of a alleged technical transgression in securing permanent resident status is unfortunate and serves neither the interests of the new South Africa’s proud place in the international community nor that of one of the freest presses in the world. Kanhema has a made a significant, if controversial, contribution to South African journalism, which would be the poorer without him." Kanhema is one of the journalists that has been nominated for the CNN African Journalist of the Year award.

INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING - The Parliamentary portfolio committee on communications on March 18 put forward three names for councillors to be appointed to the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) at the end of the month. The three are: Libby Lloyd, who is currently an IBA councillor, Nadia Bulbulia, who is the head of the IBA’s policy unit, and Lumko Mtimde, who is the chief executive officer of the National Community Radio Forum. The three names will have to be approved first by President Nelson Mandela.

INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING - The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) on March 19 granted a 12-month broadcasting licence to the Johannesburg-base community station, Voice of Soweto. The station found itself at the wrong end of the IBA’s stick in January this year when it was closed down for a day because it had violated several of licence conditions. It resumed broadcasting following negotiations with the IBA.

ENDS