Procedural and technical irregularities on the part of the
Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the official body
set up to deal with media racism in South Africa, recently
enabled Radio 786, a Muslim community radio station in Cape
Town, to evade prosecution for broadcasting antisemitism.
On 12 April, the Johannesburg High Court ruled that a
decision by the IBA to hold a hearing into a complaint
lodged by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD)
against Radio 786 be set aside on technical grounds. The
case has its origins in an antisemitic program broadcast by
Radio 786 in May 1998.
In a scathing 24-page judgment, Mr. Justice D. Marais, the
presiding judge in the case, lambasted the officials of the
IBA for their failure to process the complaint by the SAJBD
correctly. He said that it was "lamentable" that public
officials should perform their duties in this way and added
that it was unfortunate that the SAJBD, the fourth
respondent has, as a result of this incompetence, been
"deprived of the right which the Act envisages of a speedy
hearing of a serious complaint." It was further unfortunate,
he said, that the decision in a matter of this nature should
be determined by the procedural irregularities committed by
the IBA and the head of its Monitoring and Complaints
Department for which the SAJBD was not to blame.
In a press statement, the SAJBD stressed that the Court's
decision in no way exonerated Radio 786 on the charge of
broadcasting antisemitic material. The Court's decision had
been made on technical and procedural grounds only and at
no stage dealt with the substance of the SAJBD's original
complaint.
In a series of offensive programs, Radio 786 repeatedly
alleged that there existed an international Jewish
conspiracy to control the world and in particular to
subjugate Muslims and to harm Muslim interests. Jews were
routinely represented as being by their very nature
conspiratorial, treacherous, manipulative and deceitful.
The SAJBD, in its letter of complaint, alleged that not only
did these broadcasts constitute antisemitism at its worst
but were particularly dangerous given the volatile nature of
certain sectors of Western Cape society, where racist
statements could reasonably be said to constitute incitement
to cause harm. During the past three years, attacks on the
Jewish community in Cape Town have included bombing attacks
on a Jewish bookshop and a synagogue.
