The South African Broadcasting Corporation board members, journalists and personnel are meant to be apolitical when addressing the public.
On Friday 21 March Ellen Zandile Tshabala, chairperson of the SABC, was overheard asking KwaMashu residents to vote for the ANC in the coming elections. SABC employees are not allowed to speak out publicly in favour of or canvass for votes for any political party.
Just two days earlier EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi made the statement that, “as things stand the SABC has banned the EFF completely and also has issued an official communication that the EFF will not be represented in any of the weekly elections debates”. This was in response to the SABC cancelling an interview with Julius Malema, a decision that later was reversed.
SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago has denied allegations of bias stating that, “We are used to this at election time. All political parties complain because they want attention.”
Senior managers also had cancelled a SAfm interview with the public protector, Thuli Madonsela. The official statement from Kganyago was that the interview could not continue because the producers could not find other people to debate with Madonsela.
There is no love lost between the SABC’s COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng and the public protector. Madonsela wrote a scathing report about his irregular appointment and his salary increases. Motsoeneng’s supporters then called Madonsela a “messenger of the DA”.
Madonsela’s report led to the Collective for Democracy, made up of the PAC, FFP, ACDP, Cope and the United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP), calling for Motsoeneng’s suspension.
Motsoeneng also unilaterally had ordered the Big Debate off the air late last year, and that all repeats of the show be stopped as well. Managers at the eNCA and etv channels decided to air the show instead.
The SABC’s decision to cancel the show triggered protest action at the end of October. It was staged at the SABC’s Aukland Park headquarters. The protest was about, “the growing concerns … about the suppression of freedom of speech at the SABC”.
Examples of topics discussed on the Big Debate include problems with public transport and government corruption.
In 2012 an advert about Nkandla was pulled at the last minute because someone at the SABC felt it was, “degrading to the president”. At the time Kganyago said he was unaware of the ad or of any SABC officials issuing instructions for a commercial not to be aired.
