No show: Zuma ‘interview with JJ Tabane’ not airing tonight

The broadcaster eNCA has dispelled rumours on social media that an interview between Power to Truth host JJ Tabane and former president Jacob Zuma will be broadcast on Monday night.

On Sunday morning, the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party announced on X.com (formerly Twitter) that its party leader Zuma will be on Power to Truth with Tabane on Monday at 8pm.

However, the broadcaster said these statements were not sanctioned by eNCA.

Interview cannot be broadcast so close to elections

“The interview cannot be broadcast tonight as it is so close to the elections. For this reason, all current affairs programmes, including Power to Truth, have been cancelled this week,” the broadcaster said.

“eNCA cannot advance the interests of any one political party over another. If the interview was broadcast, all other political parties would need to be given equivalent airtime, which is impossible at this stage.”

eNCA added that it will be complying with all its regulatory obligations prohibiting it from broadcasting such interviews less than 48 hours before an election. Interviews with political party representatives won’t air until after the election.

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“eNCA favours no political party over any other, and the failure to broadcast the interview has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that it involved ex-president Zuma and his MK party,” the broadcaster said.

SABC not blocking Zuma

This comes as Zuma accused the SABC of blocking an interview he gave on 22 May, claiming that he was the only politician barred by the public broadcaster.

“I don’t understand what is happening. I last heard this during the very hard days of apartheid. Many people were not allowed to speak; they were actually [burned],” Zuma said.

Watch video of Zuma accusing SABC of blocking interview:

The SABC denied the claims by Zuma.

“The SABC would like to state that the allegations are not true, as from the formation of Mr Zuma’s political party, uMkhonto weSizwe, the public broadcaster has covered the party’s activities.

“In other instances, the SABC has contacted Mr Zuma’s team for interviews, and there was no positive response, and this did not derail the team from trying and even adhering to the invite from his party to cover its activities, including its rally on 18 May 2024… It is therefore disingenuous to suggest that the SABC has banned Mr Zuma or his views,” said the SABC.

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Additional reporting by Faizel Patel