Sangham fired after religious uproar
LOTUS FM presenter Pauline Rosanna Sangham has been axed because of her comments that irked Muslims across the country.
“After 12 years with Lotus FM it’s with a heavy heart I say goodbye,” she told POST on Tuesday.
“They (the SABC) felt I brought Lotus FM and SABC into disrepute. This is not the case, no such comments were made on air or on my Facebook page,” she said. “Not having a job is never a good feeling, but my faith is strong.”
Sangham, who hosted the Christian-based show Gospel Hour every Sunday at 7pm, blamed her woes on people who had “covertly” taken screen grabs of comments she had made on an online debating forum and posted them on Facebook.
The widowed Durban mother of two, who was previously dismissed from the station for getting show dates mixed up, again offered her apologies to the Muslim community whom she had offended by allegedly referring to Islam as a “false religion”.
“Christian persecution increases daily around the world. The silence is deafening,” she said.
“We talk about equal rights for everyone, but the sad reality is it’s just a myth in this country. My intentions were never malicious or of hate speech but a conviction of healthy dialogue with those who were eager to engage in a religious blog/debate.
“My sincere apologies for what has transpired and if it was justice, losing my job over it, only God can be the judge of that.”
Sangham said it had been a difficult two weeks. “I love media and radio has always been my passion… my most treasured moments were while listening to the voices of my listeners. That’s what I’m going to miss most.”
SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago confirmed yesterday that Sangham’s employment had been terminated.
“During investigations we requested her to write to us to explain what happened and she did. After consideration we decided to end our relationship.”
Dr Faisal Suleiman, chairperson of the South African Muslim Network, said her firing was inevitable.