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Memorandum of Demands and Expectations

By South African Civil Society to the SABC Board and Parliament

We Demand that,

The SABC, as a public service broadcaster with a public interest mandate, who claims “people centred” as one of its primary values will,

1. Demonstrate in the exercising of all its functions that South African citizens, also its license fee payers, are its primary stakeholders;
2. Ensure that the SABC Board and Organisation always seek to represent the interests of its primary stakeholders;
3. Pro-actively seek engagement with primary stakeholders, to ensure that primary stakeholder interests and views are continually assessed and fed into the decision making mechanisms of the Board and Organisation;
4. Conduct all its functions, from operation to governance, with high standards of transparency and openness;
5. Articulate, adopt, publish and make readily available to the public through their offices, website and upon request:

a. Protocols that detail how both the SABC Board and Organisation will discharge its functions, including but not limited to their primary functions and responsibilities, what the division between their respective functions will mean in practice, when and how it will inform the public on decisions that will in any way affect delivery of service, and internal complaints mechanisms to address primary stakeholder concerns;

b. Details of the process and outcomes of decisions that will in any way affect service delivery, including reasons and key considerations, on a timely basis and according to established protocols.

c. Minutes and transcriptions of Board meetings in line with the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

We expect that,

Parliament, as representatives of the peoples of South Africa, will,

1. Recognise and demonstrate in all decisions and actions regarding the SABC (Board & Organisation) that South African citizens are the public broadcaster’s primary stakeholders;
2. Facilitate and ensure that the SABC Board and Organisation have the capacity and prerogative to fulfill the above demands;
3. De-politicise the SABC Board appointment process, and ensure that citizen’s interests are fully and fairly represented in the Board and in the Board appointment process;
4. Explore, support and bring into being any legislation, or amendment of legislation that will enable the above demands and expectations;

Football and Xenophobia

We here at SAMGI are wondering whether this recent spate of xenophobic attacks against foreigners will have any affect on the World Cup in 2010.

While the violence is directed against foreigners, of which there will be thousands here for the big game, it stems more from a perceived economic imbalance and hierarchy between refugees who come here seeking a better life and those South Africans who continue to wrestle with lifting themselves out of dire poverty. Pictures of burning black bodies have been posted all over the print and international editions of major publications like The New York Times and BBC. But we have yet to hear anyone question whether South Africa is ready to host what will arguably be one of the biggest international events of the year.

These xenophobic attacks shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. They are not isolated to Gauteng, but often occur in the Western Cape as well.

After 10 days, the death toll has reached 24, there are hundreds injured, and 20,000 people have been displaced. What role will this play in 2010, or will this issue be swept to the side?

Solutions to Murder Lie Not With Reinstating the Death Penalty, but Elsewhere

This article, written by Roger-Claude Liwanga, xenophobia and racism project coordinator at SAMGI, was first published in the Cape Times on Monday, May 5.

Cartoon from Monet’s studio

By Roger-Claude Liwanga

In order to guarantee peace and safety, society has set up rules about which behaviors are prohibited and which allowed.

All human behaviour which is in contrast to the established prescriptions is viewed as dangerous for the social order, and some behaviors are judged as, particularly serious, such as murder, rape, robbery and corruption.

Perpetrators of such offenses will endure punishment because of their conduct, such as the death penalty or life imprisonment, or imprisonment for a specified number of years and/or a fine.

Minister Vows to Increase Percentage of Women in Senior Management

Women will occupy 50 percent of senior management positions in government by March 2009, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, minister of public services and administration was quoted saying recently.

Speaking to the Governance and Administration cluster briefing in May, Fraser-Moleketi said research shows women occupied just 8 percent of senior management in 1995 and grew to 33 percent in 2007, according to BuaNews, a South African news service focusing on government. Although these numbers are lower than expected, Fraser-Moleketi said she believes the country will still meet its mark next year.

But finding and grooming women leaders is a challenge, especially for women with familial responsibilities.

“Although we are gender sensitive in this country, it is clear that parenting is still mostly the role of the women,” Fraser-Moleketi told BuaNews.

Action Needed to Stop Xenophobic Attacks

There have been many incidences of xenophobic attacks against Africans from other countries, and the Eastern Cape logged another last Monday when a 21-year-old Somali man was shot while working in his shop in Kwanobuhle.

A similar incident occurred in Zwenetemba near Worcester in March, prompting a spokeswoman with the Department of Home Affairs to condemn the violence.

I’m not sure articulating one’s outrage will be enough if further efforts are not taken to apprehend those responsible, and to create a climate where such acts are deemed unacceptable.

Lesbians in Khayelitsha too scared to protest, says human rights group

Image: MSF.

From IOL:

By Natasha Joseph

Human rights groups say that lesbians in Khayelitsha are too frightened to picket and protest outside the trial of nine men who stand accused of beating 19-year-old Zoliswa Nkonyana to death more than two years ago.

The brutal attack on Nkonyana was apparently motivated by the fact that she was living openly as a lesbian. On February 3, 2006, a mob of 20 men beat her to death in Khayelitsha’s E section.

Nine of her alleged attackers appeared in the Khayelitsha magistrate’s court on Monday, but the case was postponed because one accused’s lawyer was not present in court, said the Western Cape Alliance for Campaign 07-07-07.

The campaign was launched provincially in February, and consists of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) organisations, as well as groups dealing with HIV/Aids and gender issues.

Read the rest of the story here.

Calling For an End to Terror in Zimbabwe

Photo by Sokwanele-Zimbabwe on Flickr.

Last week, SAMGI along with several other NGOs participated in a protest outside the Cape Town International Convention Centre to defend democracy in Zimbabwe. We also wrote a memo to the Inter-Parliamentary Union urging them to put pressure on Zimbabwe to release the election results and uphold its constitution. We have yet to receive a response.

Since then, the situation there has taken an increasingly violent turn, with graphic photos surfacing of wounded Movement for Democratic Change supporters who were tortured, and news of Zim riot police raiding MDC headquarters, all an indication that there is no end in sight for this election disaster.

The Spirit of Ubuntu: American woman receives one of South Africa’s highest honors

Image from PR-Inside.

Somehow, Linda Biehl was able to forgive her daughter’s killers and start a foundation that helps community projects in the townships where she worked. For that, she received one of South Africa’s highest honors: she was named to the Order of Companions of O R Tambo by President Thabo Mbeki at a ceremony today in Pretoria.

“I have come to believe passionately in restorative justice … It’s what South Africans call ‘ubuntu’: to choose to forgive rather than demand retribution, a belief that my humanity is inextricably caught up in yours,” Ms Biehl told BuaNews. [AllAfrica]

Amy Biehl’s death shocked South Africa and the world as it happened in 1993, just a year before the country’s all-race election. According to Reuters, Biehl had just dropped off three black friends in Gugulethu, when she was attacked by a crowd returning from a Pan African Congress rally.

Woman torched for missing cellphone

From news reports, we don’t know a whole lot about Monique Martin, a 19-year-old woman who was set alight by four men nearly two years ago all for a missing cell phone.

The suspects, Ashwin Hammers, 20, Myron Daniels, 28, Ashley Lategan, 24, and a youth who may not be named, are pleading not guilty in the case, which the Cape High Court is hearing this week. The killing happened in a Strand home near Cape Town.

A witness told the court yesterday that Martin would not have been attacked if she had spoken up and said the missing cell phone was with her boyfriend, Myron Daniels.

The witness also said Martin begged for her life.

Mother raped in front of 6-year-old son

Margot Ludik and her husband Andries.

It was the wee hours of the morning, and Margot Ludik and her husband Andries were lying next to one another asleep in their Leeufontein home when suddenly their bedroom lights were switched on and they saw several armed strangers hovering over them.

“The robbers were shouting ‘we are going to kill you, you are going to die,’” Andries Ludik told a reporter.

The robbers woke the couple’s two young children, and tied their 5-year-old daughter face down next to her father in the bathroom, and their 6-year-old son next to his mother in the master bedroom. They retrieved 5,000 rand cash, and the Ludik’s thought the ordeal was over.

Margot said she believed everything was going to be fine when the robber untied her hands, massaged them and then retied them. “I really think it was a parting thought, but he climbed onto me while I was lying tied up. [IOL]

The couple have since underwent counseling and left for Austrailia.

“It is just crime and violence, and nothing is going to change” in South Africa, said Andries, a well-known lawyer in Pretoria who represents celebrities like Leon Schuster, Sonette Bridges and Louis van Wyk.