SABC tells Icasa to go jump
JOBURG – SABC rejects Icasa ruling and plans to fight it in court.
SABC chief operations officer, Hlaudi Motsoeneng said the public broadcaster would fight the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s (Icasa) ruling in court.
On 11 July, Icasa ruled that the public broadcaster must reverse its decision to ban footage of violent protests in their news bulletins.
A defiant Motsoeneng said, “We are not going to change anything, you must just forget.”
Chairperson of the SABC board, Mbulaheni Maguvhe maintained that their decision to not show visuals of public property destruction was correct. “It was a moral and conscious decision that we took.”
Icasa gave the SABC board seven days to write to the authority confirming the reversal of the controversial editorial changes.
In the meantime, secretary general of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe, has warned the public broadcaster to not defy the Icasa ruling. “If you defy a Chapter 9 institution [Icasa] decision, you will learn hard.”
