Legal Articles and Guides

Parliament would consider an inquiry into damaging allegations about MultiChoice’s conduct, according to Communications Committee chair Humphrey Maxegwana. ‘We can’t just leave the issues in the public domain. It needs to be discussed and a decision needs to be taken,’ Maxegwana reportedly told Business Day yesterday.

Details of the multimillion-rand broadcasting deal between the SABC and MultiChoice may never be made public if the two companies get their way in the Constitutional Court, notes a Business Day report. The five-year agreement entered into by the two entities in 2013 resulted in the SABC pocketing more than R500m in exchange for extensive rights to its archived content, with an added pact that MultiChoice would not encrypt SABC TV channels when the country migrates to digital terrestrial television.

The Gupta-founded news channel ANN7 will no longer be broadcast on DStv when its contract expires in June next year, according to City Press, quoting an unnamed ‘impeccably placed source’ in the news broadcast industry. Another source reportedly confirmed various meetings at which pay TV market leader MultiChoice and various advisers decided that they would not be renewing the contract of ANN7 when it expires in June next year.

Although author Jacques Pauw and his publishers remain defiant, legal pressure from those implicated in his book, The President’s Keepers, continues to build. Latest to join threats of legal action from the State Security Agency (SSA) and SARS is Arthur Fraser, a former DG at the spy agency, and his family, who have indicated they are seeking legal advice.

A company marketing and selling 'alcohol-free' wine has been found to be selling grape juice and not wine, according to TimesLIVE. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ordered Alcohol Free Wine (Pty) Ltd to remove any advertising that suggested that it sold wine as its products did not undergo the processes required for it to be labelled as wine.

Oscar Pistorius’ family says a new film released on Monday showed a ' blatant disregard' for both his and Reeva Steenkamp’s family, and are taking legal action against the movie-makers. According to a TimesLIVE report, the Pistorius family dismissed the movie as a 'gross misrepresentation of the truth' and said neither Oscar, his family nor the defence were involved or consulted about the production.

Parliament’s Communications Committee has condemned the recent intimidation of journalists, and has sent its condolences to the family of Suna Venter, says a News24 report. Committee chairperson Humphrey Maxegwana said the committee was saddened to hear of Venter's death, adding that she had left an indelible legacy of speaking truth to power.

The judgment handed down by the SCA last week regarding the filming of Henri van Breda’s criminal trial is a significant one, writes Willem de Klerk, an experienced litigation attorney and Johannesburg-based media lawyer, in an analysis on the News24 site. He says it adds to a body of law developed in recent years that promotes the principle of open justice and finally closes the door on the blanket exclusion of cameras in court.

Murder-accused Henri van Breda has won his battle in the SCA to prohibit Media24 from live-streaming his trial, notes a News24 report. ‘The matter is remitted to the High Court for reconsideration in accordance with the principles set out in the judgment,’ the SCA ruled yesterday, ordering Media24 to pay Van Breda's costs.

The eThekwini Municipality says a massive billboard overlooking the N2 highway is a road safety hazard and it has taken its fight to the courts to have it torn down, notes a report in The Mercury. ‘The distracting effects of advertising create a hazard,’ the municipality’s chief legal adviser, Clement Xulu, said in papers filed in the KZN High Court (Durban).

Albert Venter, the brains behind the ‘new car for only R699 per month’ scheme, is losing his Pretoria house after Standard Bank obtained judgment of R7.8m against him. According to a report in Rapport the property is up for sale. The scheme left thousands of motorists with problems when advertising revenue for advertisements placed on the cars was not forthcoming.

‘Legitimate public interest’ was the overriding factor in the Broadcasting Complaints Commission Tribunal’s decision to dismiss claims by New Zealand’s Lion Man, Craig Busch – who opened the Jabula Big Cat Sanctuary near Rustenburg when he moved to SA – that his privacy and dignity had been impaired by Carte Blanche, notes Daily News.

The SABC argued yesterday that Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s appointment was an internal arrangement and did not constitute an exercise of public power, and thus a court could not review it. A News24 report notes that the public broadcaster was applying to the Western Cape High Court for leave to appeal its earlier ruling on Motsoeneng’s appointment as group executive of corporate affairs.

The legal matter over the technical specifications of government-subsidised set-top boxes (STBs) is due to be heard by the Constitutional Court on 21 February, Aslam Moosajee, of Norton Rose Fulbright, confirmed to ITWeb. The matter was brought to the attention of the top court in by Communications Minister Faith Muthambi, following the SCA's ruling in favour of encrypted decoders.

Parliament has heard that the manufacture and procurement of set-top boxes – which will be required when digital migration occurs – has been halted pending the conclusion of the legal battle over the non-encryption of the converters. A Business Day report says the Universal Services and Access Agency of SA (Usaasa) – which is implementing the digital migration process – addressed a joint meeting of Parliament's Communications Committee.