ANC to meet with Minister Muthambi on SABC problems
The African National Congress (ANC) has called Communications Minister Faith Muthambi to a meeting in a bid to tackle what the party called the "unconstitutional" new editorial policy of the SABC which bans the broadcast of violent protests, a decision which saw senior journalists at the public broadcaster speaking out and subsequently being suspended.
ANC chief whip and chairman of its communications sub-committee, Jackson Mthembu, on Tuesday distanced the ANC from the controversial decisions by SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng, and further apologised for the contradicting statements from ANC leaders regarding what was happening at the public broadcaster.
"In the ANC we are of the view that you cannot take a policy decision that contradicts the Constitution. There will not be another view from the ANC regarding what is happening at the SABC except this one. If there has been crossing of the lines among ourselves on this matter, well we apologise for that," Mthembu told reporters at Luthuli House in Johannesburg.
"We cannot allow our Constitution to be messed with and contradicted, we cannot allow the ANC policy to be undermined, and that is why we are meeting with the minister [Muthambi] on Monday next week."
His apology followed remarks from party spokesman Zizi Kodwa who slammed the media and reportedly accused it of having its own agenda against the SABC. Kodwa posted the comment on Twitter on Monday as journalists and civil society protested outside SABC offices, condemning the blanket ban on televising violent protests and the suspension of senior journalists charged with alleged misconduct, after they raised concerns over growing censorship at the broadcaster.
Mthembu said his party believed that the problems at the public broadcaster could have been dealt with much earlier by the SABC board.
"It did not need the ANC to deal with this matter, it needed the board to question the sudden policy change and what processes led to it. If that wouldn’t happen we expected the minister to call in the board…but all that did not happen and that’s why the ANC is calling on the minister to explain," he said.
Mthembu wants top management at the SABC reined in, accusing it of lack of leadership. The SABC, he said, had been on his committee’s agenda for some time owing to the need to bring in capable managers.
"At the highest managerial level we are lacking, that’s why we keep on moving from one crisis to another," said Mthembu.
"When you go to mid-level, you go to the reporting levels, you have expertise in abundance but that expertise is messed up by lack of expertise in senior levels, no wonder you get such decisions being made."