Uncertain future for SABC board?

“Court action seems the only way of getting redress in the situation and it is also a more objective way of addressing the board's credibility,” Jane Duncan, executive director of FXI, an organisation seen by SABC CEO Dali Mpofu as a bunch of right-wingers, told Bizcommunity.com this week.

“The danger of the current situation is that people who feel aggravated by the appointment process may vent frustration in more dangerous ways, such as when ANC Youth League members reportedly stormed the SABC studios in Polokwane and threatened Snuki Zikalala [SABC head of news].

“Another danger is that current board members may resign, to be replaced by Zuma's people, which will do nothing to ensure its impartial board. This is dangerous stuff that may lead to pogroms against SABC managers and staffers. The safety of journalists is also a concern,” Duncan, undeterred by the Presidency's total support of the board, added.

Letter to the President

In a letter addressed to the President, the FXI objected, among others, that the list of the nominees forwarded to him by the National Assembly did not include a representative of labour, and that none of these nominees was in fact a practising journalist, or has been practising journalism recently, as requested by certain provisions of the Broadcasting Act. Despite these objections, Mbeki went ahead and appointed those nominees, provoking a public outcry.

Download the FXI's letter to President Mbeki here.

Asked whether a court date has been set for the legal challenge, she replied: “At the moment we are in the process of assessing the merit of the case. Once we ascertain that there is merit and the case might be successful, together with Cosatu, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), MISA-SA and other organisations we will then proceed further with the matter.”

A source close to Auckland Park said: “The fight over the political control of the public broadcaster by the two centres of power is getting pretty nasty behind the scenes and it is putting a huge pressure on the newsroom, resulting in the staff's morale getting lower every day, forcing many to plan an early exit.”

At loggerheads

Duncan, whose organisation had always been at loggerheads with the SABC over what it calls controversial policies, favouritism and marginalisation of rural masses and the poor, also took a swipe at Zikalala, Mpofu and board chairperson Khanyisiwe Mkhonza.
She said that some of the problems besetting the SABC can be traced back to the appointment of the 2003 board chaired at the time by Eddie Funde. “CEO Peter Matlare, who was brought in to turn the fortunes of the SABC which were in the red, somehow started a drive to commercialise all the services at the expense of the public mandate.

“Services that targeted ‘uneconomic audiences' (women, rural people and the elderly) were marginalised, and formats such as radio drama were dropped as they were said to be expensive to maintain, leading to a backlash against the SABC,” Duncan explained.
“In response the Department of Communications proposed through the Broadcasting Amendment Bill, that the minister of communications approves the SABC's editorial policies and that two parallel state broadcasters be established.

Politically appointed

Since then, she said, some of the people that were politically and not professionally appointed lacked credentials, and as a result led to the ‘deprofessionalisation' of the SABC.

“Snuki was brought back in spite of the fact that he drove the disastrous bi-media operation in 1999, and Mpofu was brought in despite having had no broadcasting experience, which could be said of most people on the board.”

On Mkhonza, Duncan said: “It is impossible to forget that Khanyi comes from the old board, which was responsible for some of the most spectacular leadership failures yet seen in our public institutions.

“When it comes to proving their commitment to fairness, freedom of expression and the right of the public to be informed, each and every member, including Khanyi, must stand and account as individuals. They cannot hide behind the collective.”

Asked to comment

Asked to comment, SABC head of communications Kaizer
Kganyago told Bizcommunity.com late last night, Tuesday, 19 February 2008: “It is difficult to comment on this issue as they are not challenging us as the SABC but against the board's appointment process.

“This is a matter between Cosatu and others versus the Presidency and the Parliament's Portfolio Committee, so we will be in a precarious situation to say anything.”