National broadcaster finalises election analysts appointments

The panel of election analysts and commentators is “committed to reflect South Africa's diversity of people, languages, cultures, genders, abilities and classes, and the full spectrum of opinions and perspectives,” said group executive for news and current affairs, Dr Snuki Zikalala.

He said that as part of its efforts to expand the range of voices and faces on air the SABC used the following criteria to select the panel:
• Expertise in an election-related field, which could range from general democracy and governance issues to party politics, service delivery, socio-economic issues, electoral processes and interpretation of election results.
• Knowledge of diversity issues, including race, gender, provincial expertise and language.

“The prime consideration is for the SABC to be able to provide election coverage in all official languages via its national, regional and provincial services; and to enhance its ability to provide sufficient coverage of the provincial elections.”

The panel will be continuously updated based on editorial needs. Members of the panel will need to be on call for the whole time, especially during the election week and results. They are also expected to attend training in basic broadcast techniques.