PARLIAMENTARY SPEECH - The Cape Town High Court on April 7 reserved judgement in the case in which Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) Member of Parliament Patricia de Lille is seeking to set aside an order suspending her from Parliament. In November last year, Parliament’s National Assembly handed down the order to suspend De Lille for 15 working days after a debate in which she named seven senior African National Congress (ANC) members and alleged that they had spied for the apartheid authorities. The order was made on the recommendation of an ANC-dominated special parliamentary committee, even though De Lille had withdrawn the allegations on the request of the Speaker. The expulsion is on hold pending the outcome of the court case. De Lille is arguing for the suspension order to be set aside on grounds that it was unfair and a violation of her freedom of speech rights in parliament. Counsel for the Speaker of Parliament is arguing that the exercise of parliamentary privilege is above judicial scrutiny and the court therefore has no power to review the order handed down to De Lille. Judgement is expected towards the end of the month.

GOVERNMENT & MEDIA/ GOVERNMENT INFORMATION - The officer of President Nelson Mandela on April 5 accused three South African newspapers of engaging in "an elaborate disinformation campaign" aimed at fomenting a situation of "instability and civil commotion" in the country. It followed the leaking of a controversial military intelligence report, details of which were published in the "Citizen"; "Rapport" and "Die Burger" newspapers in late March. The report accused several high-profile black politicians and military officers of plotting a coup and prompted President Mandela to appoint a judicial commission of inquiry. The commission reportedly found flaws in the way the report was compiled, leading government to conclude that it had no substance. Writing in the "City Press" newspaper, presidential spokesman Parks Mankahlana suggested that the reports in the three newspapers came about as a result of their links with former operatives of Stratcom, the propaganda wing of the apartheid regime’s covert security network. Stratcom was believed to have been responsible for numerous disinformation campaigns in the 1980's. Mankahlana also questioned the motives of the journalists involved, saying that all the stories were by "journalists who, in the past, seemed to have connections to the former security branch and military intelligence structures". The "Sunday Independent" newspaper further quoted Mankahlana as saying: "We admit immediately that, as in all sectors of society, there are elements of the old order in the SANDF that still live in the past and who connive with the remnants of Stratcom appendages in the mass media to sow seeds of destruction and counter-revolution. The willing collaborators in the three newspapers dealt with are evidence of this." In a statement issued on April 7, the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) called on the President’s office to make public the alleged connections between the three newspapers and the intelligence and military. The FXI also called for the disclosure of evidence showing that a Stratcom-like operation was still at work. The FXI said it regarded these allegations as extremely serious and unless there was full disclosure on these sorts of accusations, the public would remain uncertain of the implications of them and the discourse would remain suspect. "We believe that there should be no room here for innuendo. If there is evidence of press involvement in a campaign of this sort let it be made public," the statement said. On April 7, President Mandela informed opposition political leaders that both the discredited coup report along with the report of the findings of the judicial commission would be made available to them on condition they signed an undertaking of confidentiality and read the documents in the office of his director-general. The Democratic Party (DP) and the Freedom Front both declined the offer, with the DP saying that no opposition party should agree to become part of a government blanket of secrecy. On April 9, the office of the president informed the co-leader of the United Democratic Movement, Bantu Holomisa, that he could not gain access to the intelligence report, even though he was mentioned in the report as being involved in the alleged coup plot. In a letter to Holomisa, he was told that both the intelligence report and the findings of the judicial commission were top secret.

INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING - The "Business Report" newspaper on April 7 reported that up to 60 percent of the staff of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) would have to leave if the proposed merger between the IBA and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA) went ahead. The merger was scheduled to be completed by the end of March this year, but was delayed. The newspaper reported that a final timetable was expected to be decided on this month, with June billed as the cut-off date. Concern has been expressed in various quarters that the proposed merger between the two bodies could compromise the independence of the IBA, while Telecommunications minister Jay Naidoo has come under from among others, the FXI, for proceeding with the proposed merger despite the recent Green Paper on broadcasting having put the matter up for public discussion.

DEFAMATION - The vice-principal and deputy vice-chancellor of the Medical University of South Africa (Medunsa), Prof Ramaranka Mogotlane, on April 6 accused the National Party (NP) of libel, saying it had misquoted him in a party leaflet. The NP leaflet quoted him as saying: "We were better off under the previous NP government than under the government that we helped vote into power." Mogotlane has demanded that the NP withdraw the leaflet immediately, that existing copies be sent to him to be destroyed and that the NP make a full public apology. In a letter to the party, he said that remarks, which were incorrectly attributed to him by "Beeld" newspaper and then repeated in the leaflet, had caused him acute personal pain and embarrassment. He said at no time was he contacted by NP staff requesting permission to use his name in the leaflet or to check the accuracy of the quote, to which he had already objected.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS - Broadcasting, Posts and Telecommunications minister Jay Naidoo on April 6 announced that the signal distribution company, Sentech, had been established as an autonomous public enterprise. Sentech was previously the signal distribution arm of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and its establishment as an autonomous company was in line with recommendations from the Independent Broadcasting Authority. Sentech is responsible for the setting up of the signal distribution infrastructure used by broadcasters in South Africa.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS/INTERNET ACCESS - The Pretoria High Court has effectively prolonged the already protracted battle between the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA) and the telecommunications parastatal, Telkom, over whether Telkom should enjoy a monopoly of Internet provision in the country. Telkom took SATRA to court last year to set aside the authority’s ruling that the provision of Internet access fell under value added network services licences rather than Telkom’s public switched telephone service licence. Among Telkom’s arguments was that SATRA had not followed the correct procedures and had not properly applied its mind to Telkom’s argument when it handed down its ruling. However, on April 9, the High Court ruled that while it had found that Satra had not followed the correct procedures, it would not overturn SATRA’s decision without re-examining the technology issues at the heart of the matter. These related to whether Internet access was a basic telephony service which Telkom could monopolise or a value-added service open to free enterprise. The matter will take on the form of a full high court investigation which could involve up to two weeks of oral evidence.