It’s business unusual at the public broadcaster.
On Monday, 27 June, the acting chief executive oOfficer (CEO) of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Jimi Matthews resigned from his position.
Matthews posted the subsequent resignation letter on hisTtwitter account. In the letter, he stipulates that for many months he has compromised his personal values. He also said the corrosive atmosphere has impacted negatively on his moral judgement and has made him complicit in many decisions that he is not proud of.
At the same time, The Star reported that the three suspended employees plan to take the State broadcaster to Constitutional Court. According to newspaper, the trio was suspended after opposing SABC’s CEO, Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s instruction not to report on an anti-censorship protest outside the SABC offices.
This morning, EWN also reported that the three had called for an urgent meeting, but no response has been received as yet from the public broadcaster. This after EWN reported yesterday afternoon that it is in possession of a letter written by three senior journalists who wrote to their boss, Motsoeneng.
In the letter, the journalists say there is low staff morale in the newsroom. They also said their journalistic integrity is called into question because of some of the changes introduced in the SABC’s editorial policy.
In the past weeks, the SABC’s COO has introduced a lot of controversial changes. Among these was the decision to not broadcast the destruction of public property during protests. Motsoeneng believes that airing of such images will incite more copycat tactics and behaviour among protesting communities.
Efforts to get comment from SABC spokesperson, Kaiser Kganyago proved fruitless. His phone rang unanswered and he didn’t respond to an SMS sent to him.
