HATE SPEECH - The transport ministry in the Western Cape Provincial Government has ordered the removal of a road sign reading "Kaffirskuil" on the national road outside Riversdale in the Western Cape. Provincial Transport MEC Leonard Ramtlakane said: "While the process of consultation continues in regard to a new name for Kaffirskuil, there is no reason the motorist and the public at large need be confronted by this offensive name."

GOVERNMENT INFORMATION - The furore created in Parliament last week by Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) MP Patricia de Lille when she accused the government of suppressing information showing that several senior African National Congress (ANC) officials
had spied for the apartheid authorities, continued this week. Speaking to journalists at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Scotland, Edinburgh, President Nelson Mandela said he had yet to see a list naming members of his government as apartheid-era spies.
He added that it was unnecessary for him to comment as De Lille refused to abandon her parliamentary privilege and repeat the allegations outside parliament. However, in reaction to this, the leader of the United Democratic Movement (UDM), Bantu Holomisa, claimed that President Mandela had on more than one occasion reprimanded ANC executive members, saying he had their files and knew who among them were spies. Holomisa was a member of the ANC’s national executive committee at the time he claims Mandela made the remarks. In her outburst in Parliament last week, De Lille said the list of spies were in the possession of President Mandela and Deputy President Thabo Mbeki. She called on the government to tell the public who the agents were who received blood money to betray their comrades in the liberation struggle.

INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING - The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) on October 27 reminded broadcasters that the mandatory 20 percent South African music quota imposed on all broadcasters had come into effect. The regulation applied to all sound broadcasting services that devoted at least 15 percent of their programming to music. Twenty percent of the musical tracks played by these broadcasters were required to be South African.

PROTESTS - All the parties in the National Assembly (Parliament) on October 28 condemned a rowdy protest in the public gallery by about 30 members of the Freedom Front (FF) Youth, which resulted in the National Assembly having to suspend its business for over an hour. The group was protesting the Higher Education Bill. They began shouting slogans and singing as Education Minister Sibusiso Bengu was about to introduce the debate on the Bill. The group draped a banner proclaiming in Afrikaans, "Freedom Front Youth Demand Afrikaans University", and held aloft placards, also in Afrikaans, stating: "Yes for Afrikaans" and "Afrikaans we remain". The group then began singing "Die Stem" and other Afrikaans folk songs. Parliamentary Speaker Frene Ginwala ordered the group to cease disrupting proceedings, and when they refused, she suspended business. On October 29, Ginwala announced to the House that parliamentary staff member John Jenkins had been suspended from duty pending an investigation into his conduct stemming from the protest. Ginwala said an investigation had shown that the demonstrators had entered the public gallery on forms signed by Jenkins. She said he had been barred from the precincts of Parliament while the investigation was in progress.

AWARDS - Mandla Seleoane, the Chairman of the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI), on October 28 was named the joint winner of the Don Caldwell Unconventional Hero Award in recognition of his work at the FXI in championing and protecting the rights of freedom of expression and speech.  The other winner was William Saunderson-Meyer, journalist and author of the syndicated column, "The Jaundice Eye", which appears in several newspapers around the country. In making the award, the Don Caldwell Trust said the two had shown "they were not afraid to break with conventional wisdom or to contradict popular dogma in order to protect the right to freedom of expression".

PUBLIC BROADCASTING: The Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting, Jay Naidoo, said on October 29 that the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) had not ruled out an increase in the number of religious programmes it broadcast. Speaking in Parliament, Naidoo added that this would depend on an improvement in the corporation’s finances. He said he would meet religious leaders next week to discuss ways of improving and increasing religious coverage. Earlier this year, the SABC came under fire when it announced that it had cut the airtime for religious programming by 75 percent in order to reduce costs. The corporation was criticised particularly since the move was done without consulting the Religious Broadcasting Panel, which was appointed in 1995 to advise the SABC on the content and allocation of religious programming. Naidoo told parliament that at present, SABC television offered four hours of religious programming a week, and radio 90 hours. Seventy percent of this time was allocated to the Christian faith. He said that while government and the SABC recognised the deep religious convictions of South African society, "I would be very surprised to learn that the only way to convey religious values is through religious film stars."

MEDIA FREEDOM - The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communication on October 29 was urged to review existing legislation affecting media coverage of elections as it could be unconstitutional. Addressing the committee on behalf of the Electoral Institute of South Africa, deputy chairperson of the FXI Raymond Louw said the Electoral Act of 1992 contained a number of provisions which conflicted with the freedom of expression clause in the Constitution and which could result in journalists being targeted by ministers for expressing their political views. Among the provisions of this Act which could intrude on press freedom was the requirement that during election periods journalists "sign" or identify themselves as authors of any political articles written, including posters or pamphlets. This requirement did not apply to broadcasters.
Other provisions which could be in conflict with the Constitutional guarantee of press freedom were: the prohibition of publishing opinion polls 21 days before the election and the provisions placing certain restrictions on journalists and photographers’ access to polling stations. Louw also raised concerns about the obligations imposed on the public broadcaster and complications which could arise because of the advancement of new technology, such as satellite broadcasts and the Internet. He questioned whether the Internet should be regulated in the same way as broadcasters. Louw proposed that once an investigation of this nature had been approved by the committee,  recommendations and proposed amendments to legislation would have to be formulated by March next year in order for them to promulgated before the end of the 1998 parliamentary session and well ahead of the 1999 general election.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION - A Pretoria High Court Judge on October 29 wrapped the government over the knuckles for refusing to hand over documents to a former secret agent, John Horak, pertaining to the rules of a pension scheme to which he belonged. Horak, a former journalist who admitted to being a media spy during the Apartheid years, is suing President Nelson Mandela and the insurance company, Sanlam, for R566 610 in disability benefits he claims is due to him after being declared medically unfit in January last year. In January 1995, Horak was appointed Deputy Divisional Head of the South African Secret Service. According to Horak, either the president, as the power responsible for the Secret Service, or Sanlam, as administrator of the scheme, were obliged to pay him the disability benefits. Horak said in court that the rules of the scheme had never been made available to him because they were classified strictly confidential and he had, as a secret agent, signed an agreement to maintain secrecy. The legal counsel for the government argued that government was not obliged to disclose or discover the information because it was not necessary for its case and because the state did not want to help Horak prove his case. However, the Judge said he found this attitude shocking and surprising. He said the rule was that all relevant documents had to be discovered and there was no justification for the government’s attitude. He said an employee did not have such information in his possession, and relied on his employer to disclose the information so that he could prepare his case properly. The case was postponed indefinitely with the Judge ordering the government to pay the costs resulting from the unnecessary delay.

PUBLIC BROADCASTING - The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) on October 29 announced an amnesty for certain pirate television viewers (viewers who do not pay licence fees) in a bid to improve the collection of these fees. The SABC said TV set owners who had never taken out a television licence could apply for one during the grace period without having to pay arrears for past years. The grace period would extend until the end of February next year.  Last week the SABC revealed that its potential income from TV licence fees was between R900 and R1 billion. However, it said it was currently receiving about R288 million from licence fees. The corporation said it had no intention of scrapping TV licences as these provided it with money  it could not do without.

MEDIA REGULATION - Transvaal Attorney-General Jan D’Oliveira on October 30 lodged a formal complaint with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCCSA) against SABC television news following its reports on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) hearing into the judiciary. D’Oliveira is alleging erroneous and false reporting on the part of SABC television 1 and 2 after the evening bulletins of October 29 reported that a group of Attorneys-General had admitted to the TRC that they were at times influenced by the former government to prosecute in cases relating to security legislation and the Group Areas Act. D’Oliveira claimed that no such submission had been made. The BCCSA, which held an urgent panel discussion to discuss the matter, decided that since the editor-in-chief of TV news and the journalist responsible for the story were not available, it would be unrealistic to come to a final decision immediately.

DEFAMATION: The secretary-general of Athletics South Africa (ASA), Banele Sindani, on October 30 indicated that he may institute defamation claims against top athletics coach JP van der Merwe and an unnamed journalist from the Cape-based Afrikaans daily, "Die Burger". Sindani said he was considering instituting the action against Van der Merwe after the latter alleged that Sindani had called him "white trash" and a racist during a telephone conversation earlier this month. The allegations were reported in an Afrikaans Sunday newspaper. Van Der Merwe claimed that he had recorded the conversation, but he has yet to produce the tape. Sindani also indicated that he might take legal action against "a certain sports writer from an Afrikaans daily newspaper", who wrote a letter to the Minister of Sport, Steve Tswete, regarding the incident. Sindani said he viewed the letter as defamatory. The SAPA news agency confirmed that the writer Sindani was referring to was "Die Burger" athletics writer, Eben Human.

ENDS