SABC severs Gupta ties at last

The decision by the interim SABC board to dump the televised The New Age business breakfasts, a farcical concept from the outset, is long overdue.

It is, not to put too fine a point on it, the purview of a public broadcaster to advance the aims of an arguably competing media company using public funds to do so. This was always a forced toenadering of competing interests, which was always destined to end in tears and recriminations.

It also marks the severing of ties – actively encouraged during the shadowy reign of the discredited Hlaudi Motsoeneng at the SABC – with the Gupta family, who own and operate the newspaper. No clearer example of state capture than the televising of these business breakfasts has been so openly manifested.

The SABC’s interim board decision could well signal the start of a distancing by government and government-owned entities from the Guptas. As the pressure continues to mount on President Jacob Zuma and the rifts within the ruling ANC widen daily, this could turn into a cavalry charge of interests wanting a cordon sanitaire drawn around the controversial family and their investments.

We would offer the thought that this safety barrier should have existed from the outset.