■In trouble
The station manager of Heart 104.9 FM filed papers in the Cape High Court in an application to have the station’s former financial director and his wife declared insolvent, iafrica.com reported. Court papers alleged the financial director, who had left the country, owed the station R2.7-million.
■In favour
Avusa’s shareholders were expected to vote in favour of the unbundling of its stake in Caxton, Business Day reported. Mvela’s acquisition of a stake in Avusa is dependent on the unbundling and separate listing of Avusa’s Caxton stake.
■Denied
Trevor Ncube, publisher of the Mail & Guardian, denied donating R300,000 to Simba Makoni, one of the candidates challenging President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe’s coming elections (Sapa-DPA/M&G Online).
■Ordered
Media24 was ordered to pay damages of R150,000 (and legal costs) to KwaZulu-Natal ANC politician Zweli Mkhize, Sapa/M&G Online reported. Mkhize lodged a successful defamation claim against the Media24 Sunday paper City Press. The claim was related to a report about the trial following the murder of UDM leader Sifiso Nkabinde.
■Numbered
Tim Modise, chief communications and marketing officer of the 2010 World Cup local organising committee (LOC) and former SABC and Talk Radio 702 presenter, is unlikely to stay on in his LOC post, according to Mail & Guardian.
■Resigned
Sthembiso Msomi, political editor of City Press, resigned, journalism.co.za reported. Msomi did not want to reveal who his future employer was.
■Accused
The Competition Tribunal accused Vodacom of lying about its reasons for wanting to acquire the cellphone accessory vendor Global Telematics South Africa (GTSA), according to Business Report. The tribunal reportedly claimed Vodacom had lied in its competitiveness report about the real reason for the GTSA buyout – to “remove a service provider that offered customers attractive discounts”.
■Fined
MTN approached the courts after the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) fined MTN Nigeria R185-million for bad service to its subscribers, Sake24 reported. The NCC ordered MTN Nigeria to pay airtime back to each of some 15.8-million subscribers, after the network overloaded in December 2007, resulting in problems including the inability to make calls.
■Fighting
A group of 600 SABC pensioners will ask the court to force the public broadcaster to revert to a 100%-contribution to their medical aid, according to Beeld. This follows the SABC’s decision to “phase out” its contribution.
■Expanding
Intiem, the Afrikaans sex magazine aimed at married, Christian women, will from next month also be published in English as Intimacy, according to The Cape Argus.
See “Related Links” below to read more media stories of the past week.
