■Rejected
Avusa has rejected a revised R5-billion offer from the controversial Koni Media Investments. According to Business Report the relevant assets were not for sale as Avusa was in the process of separating into two listed entities.
■Pressured
Mail & Guardian reported the ANC in Parliament wanted Christine Qunta, Peter Vundla, Gloria Serobe and Andile Mbeki to step down from the SABC board. This apparently happened in response to the fact that President Thabo Mbeki had allegedly “packed” the board with his supporters.
■In court
Finance minister Trevor Manuel has applied for an urgent court order which would prevent Terry Crawford-Browne, an arms deal activist, from making “further unlawful and defamatory allegations about arms deal-related corruption and supposed criminal conduct against him”. Crawford-Browne’s lawyer described the matter as a freedom of expression issue, according to The Sunday Independent.
■Thrown out
A case against a Sowetan journalist who was arrested by the eThekwini metro police after taking pictures on an accident scene, was thrown out in the Durban magistrates’ court. Mhlaba Memela was charged with “inciting a crowd, failing to comply with a police officer’s instruction and resisting arrest”, Sapa reported. The South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) condemned the arrest.
■Endorsed
The board of the Magazine Publishers Association (MPASA) said in a statement it “fully supports” the findings of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) and its recommendations regarding “irregularities on other Media24 titles”. The statement came after Finweek had declared a dispute with the ABC over the interpretation of its rules. According to the ABC, Finweek had overstated its circulation in two instances. Finweek disagrees. The Advertising Media Forum (AMF) similarly endorsed the ABC board’s decisions, Business Day reported.
■Protected
The SABC has hired bodyguards to protect its head of internal audits, Elsje Oosthuizen, 24-hours a day, City Press reported. According to earlier media reports, Oosthuizen’s house was petrol bombed in May last year. The bombs failed to ignite.
■Breached
Sunday Times reported Vodacom had to fix “an embarrassing security breach” which allowed registered online users of Vodacom4me access to others’ confidential call records. Meanwhile, the cellphone operator said it believed the National Lottery Board would find a Vodacom SMS competition, in which 100 BMWs could be won in 100 days, to be lawful. According to Rapport, Vodacom had allowed some customers to run up bills of thousands of rands by repeatedly entering the competition.
■Died
Isidingo actress Ashley Callie died on Friday (15 February) in hospital following a car crash on 8 February in Linden, Johannesburg. As tributes poured in, The Star reported the cause of the accident was unknown.
■Extended
SABC2 soap 7de laan would start earlier (at 18:27) to accommodate more advertising, Beeld reported.
■!_LT_STRONGStripped!_LT_/STRONG
Marie Claire‘s March edition will contain pictures of among others soccer star Mark Fish and his wife, Loui, and the members of The Parlotones in the nude. This is part of a project which promotes the message “nobody asks to be raped”, according to Rapport.
See “Related Links” below to read more media stories of the past week.
