SABC meets Presidency
DA raises red flag given Zuma’s delay over board
SABC officials who yesterday met with President Jacob Zuma’s spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga have described the meeting as “absolutely nothing extraordinary and strange”.
Their response came as it emerged that SABC group acting chief executive Nomsa Philiso was never informed about the meeting and the DA alleged that the public broadcaster’s acting head of news Kenneth Makatees and national editor of news Nyana Moloto were summoned to the Presidency.
Makatees said they had in fact initiated the meeting with Ngqulunga.
“We initiated [the meeting] but this is nothing strange. We meet with different stakeholders and anybody. We are a public broadcaster and anybody can meet with the SABC,” Makatees said. “From inside the country and abroad, we’ve met with political party leaders and activists.”
Makatees said he had in the past met with the DA’s Helen Zille and Patricia de Lille in their offices.
He, however, declined to divulge what was discussed at the meeting. “No, look I’m not going to go into details now. There is nothing suspicious. We meet with political parties and stakeholders all the time.”
He said meetings of this nature normally discussed the SABC’s “editorial principles, role of the SABC, mandate, editorial charter”.
He said they did not need permission from Philiso to meet political parties or government representatives.
“People do meet with us when they are unhappy about news or they want news coverage, they always phone or complain and this is what parties are doing all the time,” Makatees said.
Philiso told Sowetan she was unaware of what the meeting was all about.
“I don’t think it is unheard of to have meetings with [the Presidency] because anybody that wants to speak to us can. At some times we initiate those meetings but it was not a meeting I was told about.”
Philiso said she would normally expect to sanction such meetings but believed there’s nothing untoward about it.
The DA’s Phumzile van Damme said: “The timing of the meeting is very suspicious given the delay in President Zuma’s appointment of the SABC board, which is now a week overdue. We will request that Dr Ngqulunga provide a report to parliament about the reasons and nature of the meeting.”