SABC blames speech glitch on ‘sabotage’
Red-faced broadcaster suspends three and dumps one
The SABC says it has strong evidence that its broadcast of an unedited version of President Cyril Ramaphosa speech last week was a result of sabotage. The public broadcaster was left red-faced on Thursday evening, apologising profusely for playing the wrong pre-recorded televised message by Ramaphosa, in the midst of xenophobic attacks in Gauteng, and protests against violence against women./Page
The SABC says it has strong evidence that its broadcast of an unedited version of President Cyril Ramaphosa speech last week was a result of sabotage.
The public broadcaster was left red-faced on Thursday evening, apologising profusely for playing the wrong prerecorded televised message by Ramaphosa, in the midst of xenophobic attacks in Gauteng, and protests against violence against women.
In the unedited version, the president asks the TV crew if he can “start again” after making a mistake. The video later went viral on social media.
Ramaphosa has faced a fightback against his attempts to clean up the state since the removal of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma. The SABC, like many state-owned entities (SOEs), was embroiled in allegations of state capture during Zuma’s term and is technically insolvent, overburdened by salaries and drowning in irregular expenditure.
Due to dwindling income and unable to service debt of almost R2bn, it has asked for a R3.2bn government guarantee to stay afloat and pay off some debt. But its funding bid has so far been unsuccessful, due largely its failure to meet some of the Treasury’s conditions.
On Tuesday, the SABC said it had “strong prima facie evidence indicating that the broadcast of the incorrect clip was a wellconsidered and co-ordinated act of sabotage to bring the SABC and the president into disrepute”. Three employers were suspended, and a freelancer also allegedly involved will no longer be used.
The public broadcaster is trying to get its house in order. Last month, it approached the labour court to have 28 irregular SABC appointments set aside and declared unlawful and invalid.
SABC group CEO Madoda Mxakwe said the broadcaster will “not tolerate any acts or omissions that bring [it] into disrepute, and undermine efforts to eradicate systemic problems of malfeasance and maladministration plaguing the institution”.
SABC news and current affairs group executive Phathiswa Magopeni said any employee found to be involved in “clandestine activities aimed at undoing the ongoing work to restore the credibility of the public news service, will be dealt with accordingly within the confines of the SABC’s HR and disciplinary policies”.
The public broadcaster is mindful of the implications the incident had on its credibility and reputation. “We are committed to doing everything possible to improve the quality of our work and elevate the standard of our performance. What happened on Thursday has no place at all in the public news service,” Magopeni said.
The SABC said a preliminary investigation showed that Ramaphosa’s prerecorded address was prepared in good time to ensure a clean transmission, but unauthorised changes were made. It said employees involved in the production at the time of the incident were given the opportunity to make written representations as to why disciplinary measures should not be instituted against them.
The SABC received the representations and, after due consideration, decided to suspend three permanent employees and remove the freelancer from its work schedule.
It said the second phase of the investigation is still under way.