COMMERCIAL SPEECH - The government has reportedly put on hold plans to pass the Breastfeeding Substitutes Bill which will ban advertisements of breastmilk substitutes in South Africa. In a report in the "Saturday Star" on October 11, the move is attributed to recent investigations into the possible link between breastfeeding and the transmission of the HI-virus which causes AIDS. The government has indicated since last year its intention to pass such legislation, which would be line with recommendations from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children and Educational Fund (UNICEF). The Association of Marketers (ASOM) is opposing the provisions of the bill, as well as other similar bills, on grounds that they deny consumers their rightful choice of consumer products. The "Saturday Star" report said that other bills which were being opposed by ASOM and the Freedom of Commercial  Speech Trust because they curb or place an outright ban on the marketing of some goods include bills which: propose a ban on using children in commercials as well as advertising aimed at children; prescribe mandatory health warnings on liquor packaging; and impose a ban on tobacco advertising. The groups are also opposed to provisions in the Open Democracy Bill which they claim places restrictions on direct or database marketing.

HATE SPEECH - The Department of Labour announced on October 13 that it had dismissed an official at a Labour Centre in Benoni, east of Johannesburg, because she had called her supervisor "a kaffir". The official was found guilty of misconduct in terms of the Public Service Act.

DEFAMATION: Two former commissioners in the South African Police are contemplating suing Transport Minister Mac Maharaj for defamation after he apparently implicated them in the torture of detainees during testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The lawyer representing the two former officials, Johan van der Merwe and Johann Coetzee, confirmed on October 13 that he had been instructed to investigate a possible defamation action "or any other relevant legal action" against Maharaj. In his testimony before the TRC’s special hearing on the role of the armed forces during apartheid, Maharaj said Coetzee had been present when he was tortured by security policemen in 1964. He also said Van Der Merwe had been one of his torturers. Coetzee, who testified at an earlier hearing of the TRC, said he had never personally ordered or condoned illegal acts by the police.

DEFAMATION - The president of the African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, is considering suing for defamation over allegations made in the book "Katiza’s Journey" by Fred Bridgland. Among the allegations in the book is that she committed murder. Madikizela-Mandela’s lawyer said on October 14 that among the people they were considering suing were the author, the book’s subject, Katiza Cebekhulu, and British peer Emma Nicholson, who launched the book in South Africa and is closely associated with Cebekhulu, who is in self-imposed exile in Britain. Madikizela-Mandela’s lawyer said it would still be determined whether the defamation suite would be instituted in South Africa or the United Kingdom.

OPEN PROCEEDINGS - The TRC on October 13 held the final session of a closed hearing for Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, during which she reportedly responded to allegations of involvement in murders, abduction and torture. The first session of this closed hearing was held on September 26 and was preceded by an open session where Madikizela-Mandela argued for an open hearing where should could respond to allegations levelled against her. The commission agreed to hold this hearing during the week of November 24, but insisted also on a closed hearing that would constitute a preliminary investigation.

GOVERNMENT INFORMATION - The government on October 14 unveiled plans for a proposed Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) which was described as a lean, restructured state communications service. The GCIS, the establishment of which was approved by Cabinet on October 8, will replace the South African Communications Service, which is the department currently responsible for disseminating government information. Among the functions of the GCIS will be to improve the flow of information between the government and the public. According to the deputy minister in the office of the Deputy President, Essop Pahad, one of the challenges that would face the GCIS would be to find effective communication strategies to inform thousands of illiterate rural communities about government policies and development projects.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS: The South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA) on October 14 ruled that the parastatal Telkom did not have exclusive rights to provide Internet service in South Africa. The ruling in effect means that private Internet service providers will continue to buy bandwidth, which enables Internet access, from Telkom and resell this to end users. SATRA said its decision was made to uphold the public interest and the constitutional right of all South Africans to access to information. SATRA chairman Nape Maepa said: "The people in this country are entitled to equitable, affordable, quality and universal service in respect of information". SATRA’s ruling came with some conditions: service providers will in future have to apply for a licence to operate a value-added network (i.e. buying and reselling bandwidth to make a profit); they will also have to pledge to provide universal service across the country. However, SATRA conceded that the specific obligations for universal service would still have to be defined by the various players. On October 15, Telkom hit out at SATRA’s ruling, saying it misinterpreted the purport of its submission to the authority. It added that it was taking legal advice with a view to challenging the ruling. Telkom said in a statement that it rejected the suggestion by SATRA that its proposal for exclusivity in network infrastructure provision would have jeopardised in any way the Constitutional rights of citizens to information and education. The company said its sole motive in seeking exclusivity was "based on our conviction that Internet access should be available to all, regardless of income level and location, and not to a privileged elite in metropolitan areas". It said it was the only telecommunications company in South Africa that was prepared and committed to invest in service provision in both profitable and so-called sub-economic communities. It said the imperative to provide accelerated universal telecommunications access, thereby democratising the provision of an essential service, was precisely why the Telecommunications Act granted Telkom a limited exclusivity period. Telkom added that it was not and never was "interested in being an exclusive provider of content. We provide the backbone transport infrastructure which enables service providers, who are the people offering content, to do business with their customers on a world-class Internet-specific network."

INTERNET ACCESS - The electricity supply parastatal, Eskom, on October 13 said that if SATRA failed to provide Telkom with a monopoly over Internet service provision it would push forward plans to investigate a revolutionary new means of allowing cheap home connections to the Internet through the electricity wires of the domestic power supply. A report in the "Business Report" newspaper said the new technology, which enables electricity companies to convert their power infrastructure into information access networks, could mean that the 54 percent of the South African population who have access to electricity could also have access to the Internet.

INTERNET ACCESS - An independent survey, the findings of which were released this week, has found that there are some 450 000 Internet users in South Africa. Previous estimates put the number of Internet users in South Africa at 100 000. The survey found too that Internet service providers were growing their customer base by 10 percent a month.

INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING - The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) on October 15 told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications that it faced closure unless the government gave it R2.2 million to compensate for a deficit in its budget for last year. The authority said that while it had requested a reduced budget of R44 million for next year, it had heard from government that it would only be allocated R25 million. The authority said that this would not even be enough for salaries and office rentals and that it would be running at a deficit from the end of January next year, adding that it "might as well close down". The authority said that if it did not get its required operational funds, it would not be able to meet its schedule of granting South Africa’s first private television licence by the end of March next year. The committee said it had scheduled a meeting for next week with the Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting, Jay Naidoo, to discuss broad issues, including those raised by the IBA.

OPEN PROCEEDINGS - Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence on October 14 and 15 closed its meetings to the public and the press - apparently to discuss military intelligence operations. The "Business Day" newspaper reported that the request for a closed session came from a member of the Intelligence Oversight Committee, Luwellyn Landers. He asked the chairperson of the standing committee, Tony Yengeni,  whether the meeting could be closed because his colleagues from the intelligence committee were going to ask "searching questions" which could have a "negative impact". Yengeni said it was not every day that the committee closed its meeting, but it was accepted that from time to time circumstances would force them to close meetings to the public and the press. There were no objections to Landers’ request from other members of the committee, and journalists were asked to leave the meeting.

INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING: The Broadcasting Monitoring and Complaints Commission (BMCC) on October 16 adjourned its hearing into the alleged contravention of licence conditions by the Johannesburg-based community radio station, Radio Islam. The station, which has a one-year community licence and has been on air since the beginning of the year, has refused to allow women to speak on air. As a result, a Muslim community organisation, Youth for Islamic Enlightenment and Development (YIELD), lodged a complaint with the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) claiming the radio was violating Constitutional guarantees of gender equality and contravening community licence conditions. The BMCC, which falls under the IBA, postponed the hearing to a date that must still be decided, following objections raised by the radio station’s legal team regarding procedure, the competence of the committee to hear the matter, and the terms of the licence. The station argued too that it had not been given access to all documents and records of meetings in connection with the investigation, thus necessitating a postponement. Meanwhile, the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) announced on October 15 that it too was contemplating an investigation into the radio station, but that it would first wait for the outcome of the IBA hearing before embarking on the investigation. The CGE said the case presented the commission "with an opportunity to clarify several fundamental issues pertaining to gender equality and possible conflict with certain understandings of religious and cultural values". Commission chairperson Thenjiwe Mtintso said the continuation of Radio Islam would undermine the process of achieving a non-sexist society in South Africa.

PUBLIC BROADCASTING - "The Star" newspaper reported on October 16 that the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and the South African Press Association (SAPA) were expected to sign to a new agreement ensuring SAPA news feed to the SABC. SAPA, the largest news agency in South Africa,  terminated its contract with the SABC in March this year amid a wrangle over increased fees. At the time, questions were raised about the SABC’s ability to effectively keep the public informed without the feed from SAPA.

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