Will South Africans ever know what happened to their loved ones?

The not guilty verdict in the trial of apartheid chemical and biological
warfare
expert "Dr Death" Wouter Basson was delivered on Thursday in the Pretoria
High
Court, has left many South Africans unhappy. According to media reports this
week, Basson was facing 67 charges including murder, fraud and the
possession of
drugs.

Basson who this week after his acquittal lambasted politicians, government
ministers, religious leaders, and the media for "the ease with which they
made
decisions and statements based on untested facts, rumours and allegations"
was
heading the government's chemical and biological warfare programme.

Questions are looming as to whether the not guilty verdict was a result of
the
state tampering with evidence in order to keep particular information out of
the
public arena in the three years trial that cost taxpayers R40 million.

Many people remains with several unanswered questions as to what really
happened
to their family members, friends and fellow citizens who either died or
disappeared during the apartheid regime. The South African government,
National
Intelligence Agency (NIA) is being accused of the disappearance of at least
34
boxes and two folders containing thousands of Truth and Reconciliation
Commission (TRC) documents including information on chemical and biological
warfare.

The TRC was charged with the duty of digging into South African's apartheid
past
and making it available to public. However according to the Mail and
Guardian
newspaper of April 7, valuable fragments of the apartheid past unearthed by
the
TRC have been reburied - apparently by the National Intelligence Agency
(NIA).

Among some information that is being withheld from the public are
transcripts of
the secret TRC hearings into the Tupolev crash in October 1986 in which the
Mozambican president, Samora Machel, was killed.

The Freedom of Expression Institute condemns this attempt by the government
to
deny South Africans significant information on their past. The government's
action betrays the very rationale on which the idea of the TRC was build and
betrays the commitment shown by South Africans in forgetting their monstrous
past. It also questions the government's commitment to the Promotion of
Access
to Information Act, passed in 2000.

The TRC which, was to serve as a process through which people would spell
out
what was in their heart to enable to forgive and reconcile. In the process
it
gathered valuable information from people committed to peace, and nation
building. The government's call for forgivingness was taken serious and
thousand
were seen giving testimony before the TRC.

The information gathered by the TRC also created a great archive of
information
that would serve as a source of history for the country. Generations of this
country were supposed to understand human strengths and pitfalls through TRC
archives. However, the actions of the NIA seem to have taken away all that
from
the people of South Africa.

Many researchers and archivists in South Africa have been struggling to put
their hands on the TRC documents which government has put in hiding. This is
despite the constitutional provisions of section 32 (1) (a) and 32 (1) (b)
that
gives the right to people to access information held by the state or private
organisation.

This is also a clear violation of the Promotion of Access to Information Act
that was passed in order to, foster a culture of transparency and
accountability
in public and private bodies by giving effect to the right of access to
information.

The Diary

Vagina Monologue

The one off play of the Vagina Monologues which according to the Citizen
newspaper report of April 11 was well attended on Wednesday night has raised
several questions about art and social activism.

According the Mail and Guardian newspaper the stage production has also
recently
enjoyed sell out runs Off-Broadway and on the West End. So there's no doubt
that
the piece says, loud and clear, what women want to hear: that the time of
the
vagina as a construction of male desire (or revulsion) is over. Women now
demand
the right to describe their vaginas for themselves, and to each other.

Is there power using violent and vulgar language in trying to fight violence
and
vulgarity? Would people learn more from using of vulgar in order to stop
women
and child abuse?

However, on the other hand there is a question of art. Is the artist who
reproduces what he or she sees in the society, and give it back to us as we
see
it, with the same language and behaviours a good artist. Would this artist
effort not only serve to encourage what he or she is trying to discourage?
Is
the society and its problems not more complicated than what we see on day
basis
and there for a good artist is the one who captures these complexities.

Racism in Advertising Industry

The advertising industry this week came under fire for racism. City Press
newspaper on April 7 reported that adverts down by black people is not
usually
nominated for major South African competitions.

The paper also accused the advertising companies of using black people in
brainstorming ideas that they use to accredit whites people. The main
adverts in
controversy highlighted by the City Press are the Telkom advert that
features an
old man on the phone. Also the Metro FM advert, and the Castle Larger
advert.

Racism is an impediment to freedom of expression and creativity and in an
industry that values creativity like advertising, racism can only serve to
destroy it.

For further information please contact
Freedom of Expression Institute
Information and Communications Officer
Scotch Tagwireyi

Phone: 27 11 4038403
Cell: 27 82 8210756
Fax: 27 11 4038309