SABC cans adverts for ‘Tshwane’
The Tshwane municipality said last week that R1m worth of advertising with the SABC had been put on hold as a result of the decision. It had told SABC it would take legal action against the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and meet SABC executives to discuss the matter.
This backfired when it was announced yesterday that the SABC would withdraw all advertising that referred to Tshwane, rather than Pretoria, as the capital. SABC policy manager Fakir Hassin wrote to the ASA undertaking to withdraw the advertisements immediately. He said he would tell SABC staff not to air any such advertisements in future.
The Gauteng provincial government also entered the fray yesterday. It backed Tshwane’s view that, because the name change had been gazetted and authorised by the MEC, this removed the need for Tshwane municipality to be registered under the South African Geographical Names Council Act.
However, this was not the basis of the ASA’s ruling, which was far simpler.
“The original ruling was that a municipality cannot be called a capital city as this would be misleading,” said ASA spokeswoman Gail Schimmel yesterday.
The ASA advised its members not to accept advertisements from the Tshwane metropolitan council until it had paid for adverts on SABC2 and in print media, saying it had misled the public by describing Tshwane as the capital.
Schimmel said that advertisements had been aired since the first ruling was made in May last year.
Hassin said the SABC had continued to air the advertisements because of a misunderstanding.
Schimmel confirmed that Tshwane was “in the process of” instituting legal proceedings but that no formal papers had been served.
Loading ...