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Gazette notice

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Proposed FPB guidelines

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SUMMARY

The proposals in the latest draft guidelines include changing the definitions of key terms to align them with those in the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, and the Films and Publications Amendment Act.

In addition, the FPB includes a proposal that the distributors of a film, game, publication or online content will explicitly include people that stream content through the Internet, social media or other electronic media.

“This would seemingly include an individual posting a personal video on social media for non-commercial purposes,” Webber Wentzel said.

That implies that a social media user would have to submit their content for classification, which includes the addition of an age restriction to guide viewers on the nature of the content and whether it is safe for consumption by children.

The guidelines also propose stricter measures for classifying content.

“For example, the proposals aim to enhance the decision-making capability of adults (for themselves and their children) when consuming content, by providing them with the tools to make an informed choice,” Webber Wentzel said.

IN THE MEDIA

MyBroadband – Radical rule changes for putting videos on social media in South Africa proposed — including age restrictions
Glitched Online – FPB Wants All Content Creators and Users To Submit Videos For Classification Before Publishing
Businesstech – Massive problems with new proposed internet rules for South Africa

STATEMENTS FROM OTHER ORGANISATIONS

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Cape Independence Advocacy Group

Dear Speaker,

I am writing to you on behalf of the Cape Independence Advocacy Group (CIAG) and the seventy thousand South Africans who actively follow our work.

We wish to comment on the ‘Electoral Commissions Amendment Act, 2021’, which is proposed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and was published in the Government Gazette on 21 June 2021.

Given our mandate, our comments are made in the context of the Western Cape, although we appreciate and respect that the constitutional rights enacted through this bill will rightfully apply to all provinces.

This bill is essential to restoring some degree of functional democracy to the voters of the Western Cape and we therefore unreservedly and wholeheartedly endorse it.

Through their voting behaviour, Western Cape voters have made it abundantly clear that they do not endorse many of the policy and ideological positions of the South African national government, but are left utterly powerless to resist them because the voters in other South African provinces, who greatly outnumber them, hold starkly different ideological and political opinions.

In terms of seeing their democratic will enacted, for the majority of Western Cape voters, the democratic era has not offered much of an improvement over the apartheid era. It is a statistical fact that, since 1994, the majority of Western Cape voters have never been governed by the political party they voted for, and they have no foreseeable prospect of ever being governed by the party they vote for. As such, they cannot be said to have functional democracy.

One of the few glimmers of democratic hope Western Cape voters do have, is the provision of Clause 127(2)(f) of the national constitution, and 37(2)(f) of the Western Cape constitution, which allows them, at the discretion of the premier who they elected, to have their voices heard on matters which are important to them, without being drowned out by a national majority who fundamentally hold different views.

To deny Western Cape voters this constitutional right would be a very serious infringement of their political rights and freedoms, and would be a clear indication that parliament and the national government are not interested in the constitutional rights and democratic wishes of Western Cape voters.

We therefore call upon parliament to pass this bill at the earliest opportunity, and without objection.

Yours Faithfully

Phil Craig
(On behalf of the Cape Independence Advocacy Group)