SABC: We're not dumping Afrikaans
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has refuted claims made this week on TV with Thinus and channel24 that claim (in the words of the SABC Spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago) "that SABC will move its Afrikaans programming to SABC 3 in order to further marginalise the Afrikaans language".
Kganyago alleges, "Ferreira's article is questionable and is perceived by the SABC as a move to cause confusion and to some extent instigate racial and linguistic divisions."
He went on to say the article "alleges that SABC will move its Afrikaans programming to SABC 3 in order to further marginalise the Afrikaans language. This is not a true reflection of the state of affairs, as the SABC has not marginalised any language and will not do that in the future. The SABC has an obligation as prescribed by the Broadcasting Act to ensure that all languages are treated equally."
Unfounded allegation
Kganyago also says that the allegation that the Afrikaans news bulletin was canned from SABC 2 with no forewarning to the viewers is unfounded and "the SABC refutes this allegation with the contempt it deserves, as the corporation revealed its 2014 World Cup broadcast plans in a press conference, on the 29th of May 2014 indicating how programming in general will be affected."
Kganyago says it is "rather appalling that in his article, Ferreira says the viewer anger has flared up this week, whilst he was one of the journalists who received the SABC media statement with a detailed schedule of all the temporary changes on SABC television programming which does not only affect the Afrikaans speaking community but other languages too. All the programme changes were further communicated directly to the viewers on air subsequent to the Press statement."
He said that Ferreira's statement saying, "The Nuus om 7 became a 'hurdle' for SABC 2" is "inappropriate and uncalled for".
Kganyago says "it is rather disturbing" that Ferreira "singles out only the Afrikaans programmes. This is viewed in a serious light as it indicates that his report is subjective and is intended to suit a certain agenda only known to him."
Strategic need
Kganyago said, "The SABC's programme shifts are not a decision that is not well thought, there is always a strategic need informed by our market intelligence to shift programmes around when there is a need and we will not let any individual paint a different picture which is not necessarily informed by any substantial case or evidence.
"In this particular case, the Afrikaans news and many other programmes were affected by the fact that the World cup matches were playing at the same time, thus, we used SABC 1 and SABC 3 channels to broadcast the matches.
"The SABC welcomes any critique on its work in order to assist the organisation to move towards the right direction, however, we do not appreciate malicious reporting that is aiming at polluting the democratic society that is established by all instrumental institutions including the SABC."
Ferreira's original report
"You won't see it because it doesn't exist: South African TV viewers are fuming because they can't find the Afrikaans TV news bulletin on the SABC - and they can't find it because it doesn't exist..."
The channel24 report
A blow for Afrikaans TV as SABC 2 culls even more shows...
"The SABC is getting ready to dump almost all of the remaining Afrikaans language shows still left on SABC2 and will move this Afrikaans programming to SABC3 - a channel with a much smaller footprint.
"It's the result of a TV programming language battle at the SABC which has "become unsustainable" for the public broadcaster's SABC2 channel.
"Channel24 can reveal that the SABC will permanently move its sole terrestrial, daily, Afrikaans language TV news bulletin, Nuus om 7, from SABC2 to SABC3 once the SABC's coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup concludes."
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