Issued by: Truth and Reconciliation Commission
November 20, 1997
ADVISORY FROM THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION: Accreditation for coverage of "Mandela United Football Club" hearing
About 200 media workers representing 97 news organisations from 17 countries have applied for accreditation to cover next week's TRC hearing in Johannesburg.
Space in the hearing room, in the media centre and even outside the building will be at a premium. The Commission aims to: - Ensure that each media organisation has at least one seat for a writer/reporter, either in the hearing room or in the media centre; - Ensure that each broadcasting organisation has an audio and, if TV, a video, feed from within the hearing room; and - Provide everyone with photo opportunities outside the venue as people arrive and depart from the hearing.
The following are the detailed arrangements:
1. The hearing will be held at the JISS centre (Johannesburg Institute of Social Studies), corner of Battery and Queen streets, Mayfair, Johannesburg. It begins at 9 am on Monday. Equipment will be subject to security checks, so please arrive early. 2. Journalists should pick up accreditation at the centre between 2 and 4 pm on the afternoon of Sunday November 23. 3. The only video cameras in the hearing room will be those of the SABC. The TRC's sound contractors will provide feeds, using Commission sound and SABC-TV pictures, in the media centre. Broadcast journalists will have to organise their feeds at 2 pm on Sunday - we need to ensure the building's power supply will cope with the load. We plan to have a test run with the sound/video system at 3 pm on Sunday. Broadcasters are advised to label their cables before taking their equipment away for the night. Technical details about feeds can be obtained from Jurgen Human, at 082- 574-1651. 4. The Foreign Correspondents' Association has already supplied me with the names of two photographers for the pool. Members of the stills pools will be permitted access to the hearing room under tightly controlled conditions.
Domestic picture editors are asked to consult among themselves and to nominate two pool photographers to cover South African press.
Accreditation of pool photographers is conditional upon their following the instructions of the responsible TRC media liaison officer.
5. We draw the attention of journalists to the law governing the TRC, which stipulates that "victims shall be treated with compassion and respect for their dignity" and that "appropriate measures shall be taken in order to minimize inconvenience to victims and, when necessary, to protect their privacy..." 6. Seats will be provided in the hearing room for as many writers/reporters as possible. Preference will be given to those who cover the TRC regularly, and thereafter on a first-come, first-serve basis. 7. Access to the hearing room during sittings will be limited to journalists with seats in the room - members of the the public will have first preference on empty seats in the public area. 8. Seats will be also provided for as many writers/reporters as possible in the press section of the media centre, where monitors will provide close-up views of witnesses. News agency journalists filing running copy will have preference for seats in the media centre. 9. Seats will be provided in the broadcast section of the media centre where the feeds are available. 10. The following TRC media liaison and communications department staff will be on duty: Mdu Lembede; Phila Ngqumba; Christelle Terreblanche; Terry February; Gail van Breda.
Accreditation inquiries: Odile Pearce, Cape Town 24-5161