FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION NEWS FROM SOUTH AFRICA (JUNE 20 - JUNE 27)

ACCESS TO INFORMATION - The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) appears to be having a difficult time in preventing the media from getting hold of and publishing information the TRC considers confidential. In two separate incidents this week, information was leaked to the media prompting a response from the commission indicating that a crackdown was looming within the TRC to find the source of the leaks. On June 20, the Cape Times newspaper published details of the amnesty application of South Africa’s former Law and Order Minister, Adriaan Vlok. In terms of the TRC’s founding legislation, the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, an amnesty application is confidential unless the commission decides to make it public. The Sapa news agency reported that the TRC was investigating the source of the leak. The chief executive officer of the commission, Biki Minyuku, said this investigation was "not aimed primarily at the newspaper, or its right to publish, but at establishing whether someone in its [TRC] employ is responsible for leaking information". Minyuku added that, "If this were to be the case, the commission would initiate a prosecution". Vlok is the first and only former cabinet minister from the apartheid-era government to seek amnesty before the TRC.
On June 24, the Business Day newspaper disclosed certain crucial information that the TRC had received and which would be used in questioning Winnie Madikezela-Mandela, former wife of President Nelson Mandela. The TRC intends serving a subpoena on Madikezela-Mandela within a month. Commenting on the leak to the Business Day, the head of the TRC’s investigation unit, Dumisa Ntsebeza said, "Whoever has leaked this information has acted irresponsibly, and if I find out who, I repeat, heads will definitely roll."

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: The controversy surrounding the appointment of veteran journalist Allistar Sparks as editor-in-chief of television news at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) rages on. The SABC confirmed on June 21 that the two main unions at the corporation had lodged an official dispute over Sparks’ appointment. Sparks, a SABC board member and the former editor of the now-defunct Rand Daily Mail newspaper, was appointed on June 3. The Sunday Times newspaper reported that the Media Workers Association of South Africa (MWASA) and the Broadcasting, Electronic Media and Allied Workers Union (BEMAWU), who represent 70 percent of SABC staff, lodged a complaint with management after about 2 400 employees signed a petition to protest Sparks’ appointment. The unions are  complaining about the manner in which Sparks was appointed, since the post was not advertised.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION: The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) on June 23 condemned the leaking of a confidential IFP document to the media as destructive and impacting negatively on sensitive peace talks with the African National Congress (ANC). The two parties are currently engaged in a series of talks aimed at bringing about peace and reconciliation in the KwaZulu/Natal province. Details of the leaked document, which was a discussion document presented to the ANC during talks last week, were published in a KwaZulu/Natal Sunday newspaper. Among the demands contained in the document was that IFP’s proposed constitution  for KwaZulu/Natal, which was rejected last year by the Constitutional Court as an attempt to usurp central government powers, be accepted as a precondition for reconciliation with the ANC.

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: The management of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)  has been cleared of alleged corruption on two of 19 complaints brought against it by three unions.  The unions - the South African Union of Journalists; the Broadcasting Electronic, Media and Allied Workers Union; and the Media Workers’ Association of South Africa - appointed a senior counsel in February this year to investigate the 19 complaints. The remaining 17 complaints reportedly were unlikely to be  investigated because of a lack of evidence and a shortage of witnesses willing to come forward. The report on the two complaints on which management had been cleared were not released to the media pending a decision by the unions in this regard.

Meanwhile, the South African Union of Journalists (SAUJ) on June 26 declared a dispute with the SABC for, among others, failing to provide the union with timeous, adequate and relevant information pertaining to proposed retrenchments. The union also called for an independent public inquiry into the corporation and appealed to management to immediately suspend pending departmental closures, retrenchments and the out sourcing of work. The SAPA news agency reported that the union had also accused the corporation of not consulting it on the implementation of further transformation of the corporation. The union also cited in its dispute the corporation’s unilateral implementation of proposed retrenchments.

INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING: The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), which earlier this month completed hearings into the amendment of the licence for pay-television M-NET, has suggested that the channel retain its "open time" slot, contrary to a call by the SABC for it to be shelved. "Open time" is a two hour daily slot during which the pay channel is allowed to broadcast programmes unencoded. In an interim decision taken on June 26 the authority further recommended that the pay channel not be allowed to broadcast news during open time as this would place it in competition with the SABC and the new private free-to-air television channel.  The licencing of M-NET is regulated by the IBA and approved through promulgation in the government gazette. The IBA decided to review M-NET’s licence in view of the imminent licencing of a private free-to-air television channel. During the hearings into the proposed licence review, the SABC and the prospective bidders for the new private channel, argued against M-NET’s open time slot, saying it gave the pay channel an unfair advantage and would reduce advertising revenue to the SABC and the new private channel. M-NET in turn argued that it "would go bust" if open time was scrapped, since it used this timeslot to sell its wares. It argued further that open time made M-NET accessible to people who could not otherwise afford pay-tv and gave them an additional choice. A final decision on M-NET’s licence will be taken in August after a second round of hearings.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION: The weekly Mail & Guardian newspaper on June 27 published details of a confidential report on the role of a Cuban anaesthetist in the deaths four patients at a hospital in the Northern Cape, revealing crucial information that would allow the families of the deceased to seek compensation. The expert report, which was commissioned by the Northern Province health ministry from the South African Society of Anaesthetists, concluded, among others, that any civil action by the relatives would "probably be successful". The ministry had refused to release the report for public debate, claiming it wanted to protect the identity of the families. The report also seriously called into question the competency of the Cuban anaesthetist, contrary to television and newspaper interviews by the head of the Northern Province health ministry, Joe Phaahla, who sought to exonerate the anaesthetist of any responsibility. Phaahla had also lashed out at the media, accusing it of "picking on the deaths [in the Northern Province] and sensationalising them to discredit the whole Cuban volunteer programme". The national health ministry last year embarked on a programme to recruit Cuban doctors to work in South Africa due to a lack of medical professionals in particularly the primary health sector.