SOUTH AFRICA
By Lizeka Mda, Executive Editor, The Star
24 February 2003

The newspaper industry in South Africa is spread (roughly) over five large private companies and lots of other small privately owned newspapers.

Three of the large companies are mainly English, and the other two are Afrikaans. TheAfrikaans companies are South African owned, as is one of the English companies.

The largest newspaper company, Independent Newspapers, is owned by the Irish group of same name. Johnnic, though South African, holds 50 % shares in two of its titles, Business Day and Financial Mail, while the other 50 percent is owned by the Financial Times of the UK.

Press freedom in South Africa is enshrined in the constitution, but as a country that emerged from decades of media repression, journalists and editors do not seem to make full use of this hard won freedom. Now and then there are incidents that pit the press against government agencies as the following statement indicates.

STATEMENT FROM THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL EDITORS FORUM (SANEF), FEBRUARY 2 2003
The Sanef national council, meeting in Durban, is concerned about the subpoena issued to journalist Japeet Kindra to give evidence in court. Japeet Kindra, a journalist from the Mail and Guardian and who previously worked for the Natal Witness, has received a subpoena to give evidence in the case of the State VS AAK Singh at the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court tomorrow.

Kindra had interviewed Singh and her report was published in the Natal Witness. Sanef is worried about a journalist receiving a subpoena to testify in criminal proceedings, and is in consultation with her lawyers over this issue. Members of Sanef's national council will be at the Maritzburg court tomorrow to give their support to Kindra.