Gaye Davis
A group of African National Congress women MPs have launched an eleventh-hour bid to return South Africa to the calvinistic days of star-covered nipples and black tape over salacious text.
They are bidding to turn back the clock on the passage of the Film and Publications Bill, believing it is too soft on pornography and that women’s views have not been canvassed widely enough.
Although the ANC was among the parties to back the bill when it was approved by the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on Home Affairs on Wednesday (only the African Christian Democratic Party opposed it), members of the ANC women’s caucus are expected to put up a strong fight to have the consultation process reopened.
They include the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, ANC MP Baleka Kgositsile. In a column in The Star this week, Kgositsile said that despite 4 000 written and 28 oral submissions, “particular stakeholders in society with strong views” on the bill had not participated in the debate.
She also expressed outrage at the publication in the Mail & Guardian of a photograph of an artwork depicting a black woman’s vagina in the form of a ceramic ashtray, saying people’s dignity should not be trampled on in the name of freedom of expression (see article below).
Home affairs deputy minister Lindiwe Sisulu is also understood to be uncomfortable about having to introduce to parliament a bill that, rightly or wrongly, is perceived to be soft on pornography and the degradation of women.
Inkatha Freedom Party leader and Home Affairs minister Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi has had little to do with the bill, having left it to Sisulu’s predecessor, Penuell Maduna, to deal with.
This week’s committee meeting went ahead only after a flurry of behind-the-scenes meetings. On Tuesday it was agreed between committee chair, ANC MP Desmond Lockey, the ANC study group on home affairs and Sisulu, that the committee could proceed with considering the bill on condition Lockey agreed to address the ANC women’s caucus on the matter.
The caucus held an urgently convened meeting on Thursday to discuss the issue.
ANC women’s caucus convener Nozizwe Madlala- Routledge said the draft bill would also be discussed at a meeting of the all-party women’s parliamentary group on Saturday.
The bill itself, which will repeal the country’s old, draconian censorship laws, attempts to strike a balance between honouring the constitutional right to freedom of expression and at the same time offering protection to women and children from exploitation, abuse and degradation.
It provides for a board which, acting on complaints from the public, can ban distribution of XX material which covers films and magazines depicting child sex, explicit sexual violence, bestiality, “degrading” sex and explicit violence which amounts to incitement to cause harm or violence.
Specially licensed premises will be able to sell non-violent sexually explicit material (rated X18) to adults only.
Films and videos would be rated by the board before distribution, with R18 (less explicit than X18-rated material) material generally available, but only to adults in a sealed wrapper.
Bona fide literary, dramatic, documentary, scientific and artworks would be exempted — but in one of the committee’s amendments, the art exemption does not apply to works portraying child sex or a lewd display of nude children. Possession of child porn is banned.
The bill also bans distribution of material advocating hatred based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion which could incite people to cause harm, as well as material advocating war and violence except in bona fide cases. This area will be dealt with by the courts; the board will, however, be able to ban a film or book which advocates hatred based on religion, provided it amounts to incitement to cause harm.
Material falling outside these areas would either be free of restriction or covered by age restrictions and warnings informing people they could be offended.
With existing censorship laws punched full of loopholes by the interim constitution, controlling the distribution of sexually explicit material has been made almost impossible and has focused attention on the need to get the legislation — in the works for almost two years now — through as quickly as possible.
Lockey said the ANC parliamentary caucus had “unanimously agreed” on the bill. “If people now want to change the bill it is for them to go back to caucus and ask it to rescind its previous decision.”
Changes could still be made as the bill had to be considered by the Senate after it goes before the National Assembly on August 29.
“With no concrete objections before us from the women’s caucus we could not make changes at Wednesday’s meeting,” he said.