regulation

The Zambian government has extended the period for registration of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for another 90 days.

Community Development Mother and Child Health Minister, Joseph Katema, says that all NGOs that will not register at the end of the 90 days shall cease to operate in Zambia.

Katema says those wishing to register a new NGO can proceed to do so starting from 15 July 2013 as registration forms can be obtained from the Ministry’s department of registrar for NGOs.

Masvingo Resident Minister and Governor, Titus Maluleke, has summoned over 45 non-governmental organisations to a meeting at his offices during which he announced wide-ranging restrictions on their work.

In a press statement, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, says that, “NGO leaders who attended the meeting were reportedly subjected to a roll call where they were called one after another and coerced to reveal their work plans and partners.”

CiCZ says the NGO representatives were also told to work with government departments and the security sector in all their projects.

The government is planning to regulate thousands of nonprofit organisations with the imposition of ‘apartheid-era laws’ that would hobble them in fighting on critical human rights issues often ignored by the state.

A draft document titled ‘Policy Framework on the South African Nonprofit Organisations' Law’ is already on the table after what the Department of Social Development calls ‘widespread consultation’.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has given Radio Teemaneng, a community station, seven working days to submit its financial reports.

The station, which broadcasts from Kimberly in the Northern Cape, has not been submitting its audited financial reports to the broadcasting regulating authorities for past three years.

ICASA spokesperson, Paseka Maleka, points out that the station will present its case to the compliance committee for determination and recommendation to the authority on what sanction to be imposed on that particular licensee.

Mobile operator, Cell C, has cut prepaid call tariffs by more than 34 percent, bringing them lower than contract call rates for the first time in 18 years.

Cell C CEO, Alan Knott-Craig, who promised to shake up the cellphone industry when he joined Cell C last month, introduced a new prepaid package with prices reduced by 34 percent to an all-day rate of 99c a minute, with per-second billing from the first second.

Khulekani Magubane, in an article titled ‘SA’s low press freedom rank ‘unfair’, says that on World Press Freedom Day, celebrated globally on 3 May, South African media remain in an uncertain position.

Magubane argues that although the African National Congress (ANC) gave a warm reception to the Press Freedom Commission (PFC) report on media regulation released last week, the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal and the Protection of State Information Bill remain contentious issues.

The Press Freedom Commission has recommended a new regulatory regime for newspapers involving more public participation and a hierarchy of increasingly stringent penalties for ‘journalistic infractions’ culminating in space-related and monetary fines.

Print Media South Africa (PMSA) and the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF), which mandated the research, are expected to accept most of its recommendations.