Complaints were received by the Registrar in regard to a sexual description which was given by 
Gareth Cliff, a presenter on 5FM, one of the radio stations which falls under the umbrella of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, the public broadcaster in terms of the Broadcasting Act 1998. A presenter posed a sexual riddle on the Monica Lewinsky Bill Clinton relationship. The question was posed: Who sucked Bill Clinton’s penis and is a senator? The answer was: Hilary Clinton.
The Tribunal held that the inclusion of descriptions of an intimate form of sexuality in a broadcast that includes a large number of children is harmful. It confronts children under the age of 12 with a form of intimate sexuality, which they would be unable to understand or cope with. The Tribunal is, accordingly, of the view that the sexual riddle was not only inappropriate, but also harmful to the sexual education of smaller children. It raised the kinds of questions, as cogently argued by Mrs Skerritt, which she simply did not wish to address at the stage her children are currently at. I asked her whether children at the age of 4 and 6 would pick up on sexual references such as those under discussion. Her answer was a very definite “yes”. Children of this age were already given information about the workings of sexual organs at pre-primary schools, and the riddle raised questions which she was simply not prepared to deal with at this stage. The Tribunal agrees with her. The riddle is likely to harm at least a substantial number of children in their sexual upbringing. The complaints are upheld.
The Tribunal did not address the question whether the riddle was not also invasive of the dignity of the Clintons. The complainants did not include such a complaint. Yet this could very well be the case, in spite of the fact that the Clintons hold public positions. The riddle was, in any case, in particularly questionable taste.