HATE SPEECH - Convicted mass murderer and right-wing activist, Barend Strydom, on November 28, launched his book "Barend Strydom Die Wit Wolf, `n Belydenis" [Barend Strydom the White Wolf, a Confession]. The book tells, among others, about Strydom’s motivation and the ideals which fuelled his shooting rampage in Strijdom Square, Pretoria, in 1988 when he killed seven black people and wounded several others. Strydom was sentenced to death in 1989 for his actions, but received amnesty and was released from prison shortly after the 1994 elections.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION - The police confirmed on November 28 that they had lost the docket of mass murderer Barend Strydom, hampering investigators of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in their probe of the Strijdom Square massacre of 1988. The police confirmed to the "Saturday Star" newspaper that they did not know where the docket was. In addition to the file, which contained information about Strydom’s case, police have also been unable to find the records of the victims of Strydom’s actions. The TRC requires these records in order to facilitate compensation to the victims.
INTERNET ACCESS - The Pretoria High Court on December 3 postponed judgement on an application by the telecommunications parastatal, Telkom, to set aside a ruling by the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA) not to grant Telkom the exclusive right to provide the infrastructure for Internet access in South Africa. SATRA made the ruling in October this year, but Telkom is arguing that there were procedural problems as well as irregularities in the manner in which SATRA arrived at its decision. Telkom’s application is being opposed by SATRA and the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA). The judge hearing the case postponed the matter to February next year, saying it would need a special judge in view of the technical nature of the arguments.
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION - Parliament has adopted new rules which places a ban on the publication of confidential documents or evidence put to joint committees without official permission. The rules were approved by a Parliamentary committee at the close of the 1997 session on November 25. In a report in "The Star" newspaper, the rules state that all documents and recordings officially placed before a joint committee are open to the public, including the media. However, some will remain confidential if the joint committee itself, the Speaker of the National Assembly and the chairman of the National Council of provinces decide to keep the matter confidential. The restrictions extend to: proceedings of, or evidence before, a closed hearing of committee and where the committee was "considering a matter which is of such a nature that the exclusion of the public is reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society"; any report or summary of such proceedings; any document or recording accepted by the committee as confidential; and any document or recording submitted to members of the committee as confidential by order of the committee chairman. The last two rules will apply to documents or recordings which contain private information prejudicial to a particular person, or which are protected under parliamentary privilege, or are confidential in terms of legislation. An additional clause also makes the last two rules applicable where documents or recordings are of such a nature that their being confidential is reasonable or justifiable in an open and democratic society. News of the latest changes to the Parliamentary rules were juxtaposed against a new policy of openness and transparency in the budget process. Finance Minister Trevor Manual unveiled the new process on December 2 with the release of a medium-term budget policy statement, which amounted to a preview of the budget that would be tabled in Parliament in March next year. The policy statement detailed projected spending and revenue figures for the next three fiscal years, as well as the macroeconomic assumptions on which these projections were based. Previously, the budget remained secret until the minister addressed a joint sitting of Parliament on budget day. At a media briefing, Manuel said: "We are publishing today the same information that is before government as we finalise the budget. Every citizen, every stakeholder will be able to read this statement and see what we are trying to achieve, and the resources we have available. ... There is a level of transparency here that I would hazard you would not find anywhere else." He added: "For too long, budgets have been made behind closed doors. These are important decisions which affect all our futures." Earlier this year, the Department of Finance declined a request from the South African National NGO Coalition for observer status of civil society organisations at executive meetings of the budget.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION - The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on November 28 sparked an outcry from opposition parties in Parliament when it granted amnesty to 37 African National Congress (ANC) members, including several cabinet ministers, on the basis that they had accepted collective responsibility for offences committed by members of the organisations’ structures. Unlike other amnesty applications, most of the applications in this case did not specify the incidents for which amnesty was being sought. On December 8 the TRC announced that it would seek urgent legal advice to determine whether the decision to grant amnesty to the 37 ANC members had complied with the legislation governing the TRC.
OPEN PROCEEDINGS - The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on December 4 concluded its nine-day public hearing of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. The hearing, which the TRC initially wanted to hold in-camera, was held in public after Madikizela-Mandela argued for such a hearing. The hearing enjoyed widespread coverage in the press, as well as live coverage on television. It was dogged by inconsistent and often conflicting testimony by several witnesses. On December 3, the Johannesburg-based Media Monitoring Project (MMP) wrapped the media over the knuckles, accusing them of having tried and found Madikizela-Mandela guilty. In a statement, the MMP said the media had not successfully conveyed the important differences between the hearing and a court case. It said "they [the media] have searched for guilt and culpability rather than truth and honesty. The media have generally done a good job of reporting the TRC, but have spent the last week swayed by impaired judgement". The statement added: "The matter is one of principled reporting which recognises human rights and human dignity. It is a fundamental right that one is innocent, unless proven guilty and the media must respect that if we are to build a society which respects human rights, irrespective of who is on trial." Earlier this year, the MMP applauded a decision by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to screen a controversial overseas documentary about Madikizela-Mandela. The documentary detailed various allegations against Madikizela-Mandela, including that of murder and conspiracy to murder. The MMP said the decision to screen the documentary "was courageous, correct and demonstrated all to clearly the importance of public service broadcasting in providing information for the public which would not otherwise have been shown". The "Saturday Star" newspaper reported on December 6 that police were planning to reopen investigations into at least three murder cases stemming from evidence which was heard during Madikizela-Mandela’s hearing. The report added that, depending on the TRC report to be issued at the conclusion of its proceedings next year, other investigations could follow.
JOURNALISTS - A Pretoria High Court Judge on December 4 thanked the "The Star" newspaper and one of its former journalists, Tamsen de Beer, for working with the police in bringing to book Johannesburg serial killer, Moses Sithole. Sithole was convicted of murdering 38 women and was sentenced to 2410 years in jail. In handing down the sentence, Justice D J Curlewis said it was heartening that the editor of "The Star" and De Beer had assisted the police in the way they had. The Judge said the key to a large number of the charges could be found in telephone calls made to De Beer, in which Sithole provided gruesome details on how and where he had murdered his victims. Sithole called "The Star" on several occasions and recordings were made of his confessions to De Beer. Voice experts studied the recordings during the trial and found that Sithole’s voice matched those on the tapes.
PUBLIC BROADCASTING - The Ministry for Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting announced on December 3 that the broadcasting services of the four former homeland states of Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei had been transferred to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). The homeland states, which were nominally independent and recognised only by the former apartheid government, were abolished before the 1994 elections. They all ran their own broadcasting services, with Bophuthatswana the only homeland with a television service. A spokesman for the ministry said the integration with the SABC was aimed at abolishing state broadcasting and "to establish a single independent and publicly accountable national public broadcaster". Most of the services will be integrated with existing SABC radio stations, while some broadcasting facilities and assets will be sold.
LOCAL CONTENT - The United States film industry lobby, grouped under the Motion Picture Association, has voiced concerns to US trade law enforcers about the Independent Broadcasting Authority’s (IBA) decision to extend local content requirements to private television channels, the first of which is expected to be licenced by the end of March next year. The association described the requirements as "discriminatory". In terms of the IBA regulations, at least 10% of the private channel’s programming will have to be locally produced in the first year, 20% in the second year, and 25% in the third year of its operation. The IBA regulations state further that the SABC will be subject to an eventual 50% local content quota within the next few years.
ENDS