Complaints by Democratic Party, the Official Opposition in Parliament, that the Respondent, the 
National Public Broadcaster, does not comply with its Charter and/or the BCCSA Code of Conduct when covering the activities of the Official Opposition.
BCCSA holding:
- That complaints concerning the 1999 pre-election and election coverage not relevant since complaints have to be lodged within thirty days of broadcast. In any case, insofar as the “election period” is concerned, the IBA has jurisdiction to deal with those matters in accordance with the IBA Act.
- That the mere fact that Complainant is the Official Opposition does not entitle it to coverage unless it can show that certain criteria in the Broadcasting Code, which apply to all complainants, have been met.
- That the Tribunal is not convinced that news items were biased or otherwise contravened the BCCSA Code insofar as news coverage is concerned.
- That insofar as allegations of unfair or unbalanced comments were concerned, the Tribunal was not convinced that when the SABC commented on a matter, it had not covered conflicting views sufficiently in terms of Clause 3 of the Broadcasting Code.
- That newsworthiness was a matter to be decided upon by the SABC itself and that the Broadcasting Code did not authorize the Tribunal to interfere in a decision as to newsworthiness.