[Dear friends, I will be going on leave next week and the FoE news will also be going on leave. The FXI will resume publishing the weekly bulletin at the end of February. Thanks, RG]

COMMERCIAL SPEECH - The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) during the week of January 10 buckled under pressure from hundreds of viewers and withdrew a television commercial showing a split-second semi-frontal view of a naked actress. The split second scene was contained in a prime-time advert promoting the American film, "Devil’s Advocate". The advert was first flighted on January 5 and according to an SABC spokesman it sparked a deluge of calls from viewers complaining about the nudity. It was screened once more after that. Following negotiations with the advertising agency and film distributor, United International Pictures, the SABC dropped the ad.

COMMERCIAL SPEECH - The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a radio commercial it deemed to be "blasphemous". The commercial for Pirate’s Crisps, was a light-hearted look at the creation of the crisp over a seven-day period. "The Star" newspaper reported on January 19 that ASA found that the use of the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ and the reference to ‘He’ and ‘His’, in the context used in the advertisement, amounted to a contravention of the religious sensitivity clause in the code of advertising practice. The advertising agency responsible for the ad can appeal ASA’s decision.

DEFAMATION - The leader of the Herstigte Nasionale Party (HNP), Jaap Marais, has instituted a R100 000 defamation claim against retired Defence Force general Tienie Groenewald as a result of claims by Groenewald linking Marais to the controversial book, "Volkverraad". In his papers before the court, Marais said that in November 1996, Groenewald had written a piece in which he came to certain conclusions about the book, written by former government spy, P J Pretorius. Marais claimed the piece was widely distributed among members of the public, and especially among right-wing political groups. He said claims by Groenewald that he (Marais) was the secret primary source, or additional source, on which P J Pretorius had based his book, were defamatory and unlawful. He claimed the allegations depicted him as dishonest and as a traitor to the right-wing cause in South Africa, and were made with the express purpose to harm his reputation and good name. In "Volkverraad", P J Pretorius claims that the Conservative Party and Freedom Front (both of whom seek to represent conservative white constituencies) were started as government front organisations.

JOURNALISTS/WATCHDOGS - Police in the Gauteng province said on January 20 that would study a copy of a documentary broadcast on CNN over the weekend and which featured alleged Johannesburg gangsters boasting about their exploits and how they managed to evade the law. A police spokesman said once police got a copy of the documentary, which was beamed worldwide, they would try to identify the suspects who were interviewed before questioning them and possibly opening dockets on specific crimes they committed. In the documentary produced and presented by CNN’s Johannesburg bureau chief, Mike Hanna, the alleged gangsters boasted about their exploits and how they always managed to pay their way out of trouble. Either they bribed police to influence them to botch investigations or paid clerks of courts so that criminal dockets disappeared. They went as far as saying that they had no problem in revealing their true identities as they knew that nothing could happen to them and took the CNN correspondent to their homes in Soweto.

INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING - The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) on January 10 granted the controversial Johannesburg-based Muslim community radio station, Radio Islam, a 30-day temporary licence to allow the station to continue broadcasting through the holy month of Ramadan. The move came at a public hearing into the station’s application  to amend its licence. The same hearing was supposed to look into the station’s application for a one-year licence. However, the station withdrew this application and instead applied for the 30-day licence. The station is at the centre of controversy because of its policy of not allowing women on air. The station claims that this is in line with its religious beliefs. However, in December last year the IBA directed the station the make a certain amount of time available on a daily basis for women on air, or face closure. The station has consistently rejected attempts to force it to have women on air.

ARTISTIC FREEDOM  - Artist Kendell Geers on January 18 failed to stage an advertised exhibition at an historic fort in Pretoria following the withdrawal of support from the Pretoria City Council and the French Institute and amid strong opposition from white right-wing groups. Geers was reportedly invited by the French Institute to stage the exhibition at Fort Klapperkop as part of the centenary anniversary of the fort. The planned exhibition, entitled "Guilty" and which would have involved Geers occupying the fort in the name of art, was initially also backed by the Pretoria City Council, which owns the fort. However, in the days leading up to the exhibition, both the council and French Institute withdrew their support for the exhibition following a barrage of angry and threatening letters from Afrikaner groupings. Geers instead hired a light aircraft to fly over Pretoria trailing a banner with the words "guilty" in four languages. Meanwhile, the "Sunday Times" reported that another artist, Steve Cohen, who arrived at Fort Klapperkop for the centenary celebrations dressed in drag,  was evicted from the venue by "five  German-speaking right-wingers wearing swastikas".

INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING - The hugely successful community radio station, Voice of Soweto, was given a last minute reprieve by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA)  on January 20 when it was granted a 30-day licence. The IBA earlier refused to grant the station temporary broadcasting licence and had ordered the station to cease broadcasting as from January 19. The IBA contended that the station had failed to comply with the conditions of its broadcasting licence. During the 30-day period it has been allowed to broadcast, the station will have to apply for a one-year temporary licence. It will also have to appoint a new board of directors by means of certain mechanisms outlined by the IBA. The new board will have to examine ways of increasing members and participation of the community in the running of the station.

MEDIA REGULATION - A former member of a covert Apartheid military operation, Slang van Zyl, has lodged a complaint with the Broadcast Complaints Commission (BCCSA) against the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) following a report that was broadcast on December 21. In his complaint, Van Zyl claims the report was defamatory. The report stated that gangs in the Western Cape and the anti-crime group, Pagad, were headed for a violent clash, and that Van Zyl along with some of his former colleagues, were allegedly training gang members in the use of weapons and explosives. In a letter to the SABC from Van Zyl’s attorneys, the corporation was requested to reveal its sources, and to rectify the perception they said was created by the report. The matter was expected to be heard by the BCCSA on January 23.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION - The Pretoria High Court on January 22 ordered Justice Minister Dullah Omar and the State Tender Board to hand over all tender documents concerning the awarding of contracts for transcription services in South African courts. The order followed an urgent application by the company, Datavyf, and 11 associates against Omar and the Tender Board. Datavyf, one of the country’s largest providers of services for recording court procedures and transcriptions, and its associates are seeking a review order setting aside the tenders awarded to a Pretoria company, Vic & Cup Transcriptions CC, and 16 associated corporations. Datavyf alleges that they are "inexperienced newcomers", that the resolution to award the tenders were tainted with "bad faith" and ulterior motives and that officials of the Tender Board had not properly applied their minds to the matter. In ordering the handing over of the tender documents to the court and the applicants, the Judge said the documents formed the very basis of the resolution which was being attacked by the applicants and justice could not be done if the documents were kept secret from the applicants and the court.

ENDS