(FXI/IFEX) – The following is a 12 May 2000 FXI report on recent freedom of expression news from South Africa: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION NEWS FROM SOUTH AFRICA – MAY 12 2000 ADVERTISING/ CENSORSHIP – On May 4, “The Citizen” reported that a spokesperson for Carniking and Bio Caval Millennium Show and Jumping festival, Vivienne Tothill, […]
(FXI/IFEX) – The following is a 12 May 2000 FXI report on recent freedom of expression news from South Africa:
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION NEWS FROM SOUTH AFRICA – MAY 12 2000
ADVERTISING/ CENSORSHIP – On May 4, “The Citizen” reported that a spokesperson for Carniking and Bio Caval Millennium Show and Jumping festival, Vivienne Tothill, said that posters advertising the show had been ripped off lampposts in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. Tothill alleged that a group calling itself Combined Residents Against Poster Pollution was responsible for that. “The posters had been left lying on pavements, causing much more “crap” than the Sandton Town Council approved and “good looking” posters had created on the lampposts,” she said. CRAP denied the allegations saying that its members were not to blame. “If the council had granted permission for the posters to be placed on lampposts CRAP would not tamper with them,” said spokesperson Maggie Leiner.
CENSORSHIP – On May 12, “The Citizen” reported that the SABC was embroiled in a new row over a radio commercial being flighted on SAfm, advertising firearm ammunition. The campaign was criticised by Gun Free South Africa and also resulted in several calls of complaint to the Tim Modise show on the station. Gun Free SA spokesperson Adele Kirsten said that radio stations that allowed programming to include the advertising of ammunition reinforced the image that it was okay to use firearms. “Advertising ammunition on radio undermined the status of SAfm as a reputable news station. It also helped reinforce the stereotype abroad that South Africa was a violent country,” Kirsten added. SAfm station manager Bill Sharp said that the advertisement would be taken off the air if it could be proved it was unsuitable for broadcast.
COMMUNITY RADIO – On May 12, “The Mail & Guardian” reported that Moutse Community Radio station has embarked on a transformation process that has been punctuated by tensions and in-fighting, as well as charges of political manipulation and financial irregularities. The station owed its origin to a group of rural women who sought to use radio as a vehicle for development. During the second round of the broadcasting licence applications, the Independent Broadcasting Authority recommended that the station broaden its base and draw in other sections of the community, such as youth, children and the disabled, and allow its programmes to reflect the wide diversities in the community. The station’s transformation problems came when new presenters threatened to silence its airwaves through strike action, if management failed to address their grievances, among others, lack of transport allowances. During its recent annual general meeting, it was discovered that some financial records were missing and that R187 000 could not be accounted for. Tempers flared when the station’s board reported alleged political interference from the local ANC parliamentary constituency office. The meeting was told that a stand off between the board and the constituency office ensued when the board attempted to “clean up the station” by dissolving the management committee, and those who were not happy with the process, took the matter to the constituency office to seek support. However, Thabo Madihlaba, board chair, said that the board’s intervention in the station’s affairs was an internal matter that did not warrant interference from external forces, particularly the constituency office. “A call by the constituency office for the board to account for its actions, amounts to political interference that compromises the role of a body established to protect the integrity of the radio station,” said Madihlaba. However, constituency office co-ordinator Mpho Chilioane, dismissed the allegations as attempts by the board to protect itself. “I don’t see the constituency office’s request to the board to explain its actions as political interference. The radio station is a property of the whole community, and any organisation is entitled to question how the station operates.” said Chilioane.
CORRUPTION – On May 10, “The Star” reported that the parliament’s justice portfolio committee heard that hundreds of officials in the department of justice were facing charges of misconduct, corruption or fraud, in some cases running into several million rands. The committee also heard that the backlog of cases kept mounting. Among those facing misconduct proceedings was Fafi McKenzie, the department’s financial manager, who was present together with other top officials at a hearing to brief the committee on steps to ensure proper financial controls in the department. McKenzie was investigated by the Public Protector after being accused of nepotism and corruption. McKenzie had allegedly appointed a close family member to a position in his office and paid her removal costs from Cape Town to Pretoria with departmental funds. Justice director-general Vusi Pikoli said that the level of concern in the department about misconduct and corruption among officials was evident from internal correspondence handed to the committee. According to “The Star” a circular by Pikoli, dated October 8 1999, described the level of misconduct and crime in the
departments as disturbing and attributed it to a lack of proper supervision and control over personnel dealing with money.
JOURNALIST – On May 9, “Sowetan” reported that police were still trying to piece together information about the brutal murder of “Sowetan Sunday World” sub-editor Coletane Markham, three days after she was attacked at her house in Horizon, Roodepoort. Markham was killed on the night of May 5 and the police only opened the docket and began interviewing witnesses late on May 8. This emerged after the newspaper contacted the West Rand police to enquire about the progress in the search for the killer, who apparently waited for Markham at her house before attacking her with a hammer at the gate.
PRESS FREEDOM – On May 4, “Sowetan” reported that the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania president Stanley Mogoba, had attacked the white media’s coverage of the land crisis in Zimbabwe, saying that white media had apparently embarked on a concerted campaign to demonise Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe. He told “Sowetan” that the biased reporting, which sought to disconnect the land grab from the pertinent problems of land reform in that country, was to be expected. Mogoba said that while Mugabe was wrong in keeping quiet and not dissuading war veterans from taking away land belonging to white farmers, the brouhaha was mainly brought to the fore by people who were largely opposed to change and sharing. At the centre of Mogoba’s reasoning was the question: “Where were the white media, World Bank, the Commonwealth nations and the International Monetary Fund when white people maimed blacks and illegally took away their land, wealth and dignity?” He said it was good that these institutions, mainly urged on by the white media, were now acting against Mugabe. “But it would have been avoided had they done the same with Mugabe’s predecessors. When white people are threatened it is a crisis. This does not happen when blacks are threatened. I am not saying that the media should not write about problems faced by white people, rather I am saying that issues involving white people are treated by white media with a sort of superiority not seen when black people are faced with the same issues,” Mogoba said.
PROTESTS – On May 11, “The Star” reported that the Congress of SA Trade Unions, buoyed by the success of nationwide protest marches on May 10, has called for a Codesa-type forum to tackle South Africa’s economic ills. Addressing a media conference, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said that the federation had tabled certain demands to deal with unemployment. These included: making retrenchments a mandatory issue for negotiations; protecting workers in the event of liquidation; halting the unilateral restructuring of state assets; and putting an end to the accelerated reduction of trade tariffs. The Chamber of Commerce put the figure of the workers who took part in the marches at 50% of the formal working sector. The chamber said that acts of intimidation in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape contributed to non-Cosatu members staying away out of fear.
