FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION NEWS FROM SOUTH AFRICA - JULY 18-24 1997

ACCESS TO INFORMATION - President Nelson Mandela on July 18 called on the former head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Neil Barnard, to submit to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) the names of prominent South Africans who supplied information to NIS in the 1980s. In a confidential submission, which was later released to the public, Barnard told the TRC that several people who today occupied prominent leadership positions in, among others, politics, administration, business and media, supplied information knowingly and sometimes unknowingly to the NIS. Barnard declined to name any informers and the TRC said it had no immediate plans to force him to divulge the names. In a statement President Mandela said: "It is expected of all people who once occupied positions of responsibility and command, irrespective of political background, that they shall make a full disclosure to the TRC." Earlier, the African National Congress (ANC) called on the TRC to use whatever powers it had to insist that Barnard reveal the names of informers. On July 22 the acting chairman of the TRC, Alex Boraine, said the commission would approach Barnard to again ask him to reveal the names of the informers. Boraine stressed that the TRC would not carry out an indiscriminate witchhunt for alleged spies. He said, "We will not release any names until and unless it has been proved to our satisfaction that allegations made against individuals are properly founded. Even then, we would not release names before giving advance notice to individuals - required in terms of an Appellate Division judgement - and taking whatever steps may be necessary to secure their safety."  On July 24 the TRC sent Barnard a formal request to divulge the names of the informers. A spokesman for Barnard said the matter had been referred to his lawyers. The spokesman added, however, that if Barnard did divulge the names, he would do so to the TRC and not to the press.

INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING - The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) announced on July 18 that it would not participate in the second round of public hearings into the amendment of pay-television M-NET’s licence. The hearings will be conducted by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) on August 12 and 13. M-NET is currently the only licenced private television station in South Africa and the decision to hold hearings into the amendments of its licence was taken by the IBA earlier this year in view of the imminent licencing of a private free-to-air television channel. Following the first round of hearings, the IBA decided, among others,  that M-NET should retain its daily two-hour open time slot, during which it was able to broadcast programmes unencoded. Both the SABC and the prospective bidders for the private free-to-air channel were vehemently opposed to M-NET retaining its open time window. In withdrawing from the second stage of the enquiry into M-NET’s licence, the SABC made it clear that it would resort to the courts to challenge the IBA. The SABC claimed that the authority did not have the jurisdiction to either amend the licence or carry out the enquiry. The SABC said in a letter to the IBA that it "reserves its rights to make an application to the relevant court in order to have the final ruling of the IBA reviewed".

Meanwhile, The Star newspaper reported on July 22 that a decision by President Mandela on the appointment of five new recommended councillors to the IBA board could be expected this week. The authority has been waiting for more than a month for approval of the new councillors, who will replace those who resigned in May this year following evidence of serious financial irregularities at the IBA. There are fears that radio and television licences due to be granted later this year may be delayed if the councillors are not appointed soon.

DEFAMATION - The deputy speaker of parliament, Ms Baleka Mbete-Kgositsile, on July 21  indicated that she might consider legal action against newspapers that reported she had lied and acted fraudulently in her application for a new Identity Document (ID). Newspaper reports at the weekend said Mbete-Kgositsile had lied when she applied for a new ID by indicating that she had a drivers licence when in fact this licence was found to have been a fake. Mbete-Kgositsile was embroiled in a controversy earlier this year when a commission of inquiry into the issuing of fraudulent licences in the Mpumalanga Province found that she had been illegally issued with her licence. The commission ordered that she surrender her ID book to have the licence expunge. However, media reports said that in her application for a new ID book, Mbete-Kgositsile said she had a valid drivers licence.

CENSORSHIP - On July 23 an advisory panel set up by President Mandela commenced with their task of choosing the senior members that will sit on the new bodies that will classify - or even ban - films and publications. The new bodies, the Films and Publications Board and Review Board, were set up in terms of the Films and Publications Act, which was promulgated last year. While the law has technically come into effect already, current films and publications are still being assessed in terms of the old law since the new bodies have not been set up. This process is expected completed by the end of August. The new Films and Publications Act has come under strong criticism from various quarters. The pro-censorship lobby has criticised the Act for being too liberal and for granting people access to a wide range of particularly pornographic material which would have fallen foul of the old law. The anti-censorship lobby, including the FXI, has criticised the Act for being very broad in its scope and definition of what constitutes pornography and explicit material. It has also been criticised for banning hate speech, particularly religious hate speech.

COMMERCIAL SPEECH - The Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) on July 24 withdrew an anti-smoking radio advertisement after threats of legal action by Riggio Tobacco Corporation of New York. The corporation claimed that a phrase, "That’s the one", which was used in the ad, infringed its trademark rights. A spokesperson for CANSA said while the association contested the assertion that the use of "an innocuous, commonly used" expression like that constituted a violation of a registered trade right, it could not risk incurring costs of a high court action against such a wealthy company. The spokesperson added that the association believed its right to fully inform the public of the true nature of tobacco products needed to be afforded a greater protection than the rights of the tobacco industry to "continue misrepresenting" a lethal and addictive product.

MEDIA AND HUMAN RIGHTS - The Cape Town press club this week invited journalists to a debate to be held on July 28 on the role of the media under apartheid and its lessons for the future. However, in the invitation to journalists, the club’s president, Brendan Boyle, said: "The debate has been arranged as a service to our members. It is not intended as a platform to air old grievances or an opportunity to attack former bosses, but as a forum for a meaningful exploration of the role the media played under apartheid." A journalist for the Sowetan newspaper, Rafiq Rohan, described the invitation as perplexing since "you are instructed not to come and talk about how you may have been adversely afflicted within White-owned mainstream newspapers and neither can you criticise those bosses, who performed the most spectacular feats of duplicity". He asked: "How does one focus on the media’s role under apartheid without bringing in your personal experiences and focussing on the role played by many of the former bosses?"

PUBLIC BROADCASTING - The South African Broadcasting Corporation on July 24 hit out  at recent criticisms from the Independent Producers Organisations (IPO) as being "fat on emotions and slim on facts". The IPO, which represents independent local producers, in a position paper analysing the state of the SABC and released on July 8 rejected the SABC’s views and explanations of its problem, saying the crisis at the SABC was "not one of too little money, but one of its failure as a broadcaster". It said the SABC suffered from "serious lack of expertise in may of the crucial areas like channel management, programme commissioning, scheduling, research and marketing, distribution and sales". In response,  SABC communications head Enoch Sithole said the financial constraints arising from producing more local programmes were great. He said the costs of producing a foreign television drama was about R600 a minute, while producing the same type of drama locally cost about R2 500. He added that: "New locally produced programmes, together with the audiences they attract, have not yet been assimilated by our advertisers". Sithole contested the IPO’s assertion that the SABC was "merely an exhibitor of American products" by insisting that "our programming mix is a success from the point of view of viewership". He said a number of programmes were attracting good audience ratings and viewership had generally increased by about 200 000. In response to the IPO’s allegation that people employed in programming and scheduling were not occupying top positions with real power to make financial and creative decisions, Sithole said he hoped "we are not being victimised by a clique of IPO members who were part of the old guard and left the SABC during these years of transformation, set up production companies and are holding a gun to our heads demanding contracts".

Ends.