[Sipho Hlongwane] The message that South Africa is sending across the continent with a Protection of Information Bill that is severely detrimental to the freedom of information is one of the reasons why the government needs to reconsider the bill. This was according to two leading lights of the CPJ, who were in South Africa on a POIB fact-finding mission and to lobby the ANC to change its stance on the bill. |
 [Sipho Hlongwane] Cosatu, the Right2Know Campaign and SANEF have announced a coalition against the Protection of Information Bill. Though loosely based, the coalition between the groups will pool efforts to lobby the National Council of Provinces and other parties of interest, and if all else fails, will present a united front against the bill at the Constitutional Court.
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 [Sipho Hlongwane] Before Black Tuesday's Parliamentary vote in favour of the Secrecy Bill, massed opposition had warned of challenging it in the Constitutional Court. Naturally, ANC MP Luwellyn Landers is confident that it'll pass Constitutional muster.
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 [Sipho Hlongwane] The president's spokesman Mac Maharaj has had time to think things through following the Mail & Guardian and Sunday Times reports alleging - yet again - he accepted bribes for tenders as transport minister all those years ago. On Tuesday, 22 November 2011, he was ready with a slightly more nuanced answer. But he still refused to answer whether or not he had lied to the Scorpions. And for now, it appears that the M&G is headed for a sticky showdown in court against Maharaj.
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[Sipho Hlongwane] Following a communications tender irregularity report in the Sunday Times that named top Democratic Alliance aides yesterday, Sunday, 14 August 2011, the Western Cape government said that it was actually the paper that was full of it. So whose mea culpa is it? Did the Western Cape government just get a dose of the "factional battles fought via the media" tactic? |
 [Sipho Hlongwane] Conventional wisdom at the beginning of the last decade was that there was no way in hell any money could be made in newspapers published for the black population. The Daily Sun proved that to be humbug. The Sunday Times took it a step further when they launched a isiZulu edition. Media24 has now taken that idea online, with the new isiZulu News24.
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 [Sipho Hlongwane] On Sunday, 5 December 2010, WikiLeaks published what may yet prove to be the most controversial cable yet - a list of facilities around the world that the US government considers vital to its national security. Some of WikiLeaks' media partners have balked at publishing or otherwise drawing attention to the cable
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 [Sipho Hlongwane] Goodluck Ebele Jonathan's life is turning into an extraordinary adventure. Not only did he come to power in Nigeria without directly winning an election in 11 years and somehow managing to avoid the stench of corruption, but he has now turned to Facebook as his electoral platform.
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 [Sipho Hlongwane] Four of the world's largest news agencies have added their voices to the mounting tsunami of opposition against the proposed media appeals tribunal and Protection of Information Bill. Agence France Presse, The Associated Press, Bloomberg and Reuters have written to President Jacob Zuma, expressing their concerns.
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Angola
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Ghana
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Mauritius
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