So Many Questions

THE ANC has come out strongly against the SABC’s censorship of violent protests. Chris Barron asked Jackson Mthembu, who is the chairman of its communications subcommittee and its chief whip in parliament . . .

Should the ANC have taken a stand against censorship at the SABC earlier? It has always been an ANC policy stance. As to when it spoke out, it might indeed be an issue, but the ANC has fought censorship from days immemorial. It’s in our DNA. So why has it taken you so long? You will understand that there are certain things we don’t do in the public glare. Certain things that we ourselves will engage with very quietly. If you look at ANC resolutions on the SABC at the Mangaung conference, it goes to town on the lack of leadership, on the collapse of corporate governance, et cetera, et cetera. So it is something we as the ANC have been saying, we must deal with this issue expeditiously because it is not in the public interest for the SABC to remain in the shambles it is in. So why have you not dealt with it expeditiously? We have raised it at every opportunity. Why haven’t you done anything? You don’t expect us to go in there with guns blazing. The SABC must be independent of all parties. But it is quite clear that the ANC needs to step up a gear now and come closer to implementing the conference resolutions of the ANC to ensure that the SABC is stabilised. Isn’t it the job of parliament to ensure this? Indeed. That is why the secretarygeneral said we as ANC, acting in concert with our deployed public reps, that is exactly what we expect. So why hasn’t parliament called the board and the minister to account? The censorship issue only arose in June. And parliament had already taken recess. And all parties agreed we will come back on August 16. Isn’t the matter serious enough to call parliament back to deal with it before the elections? There are other instruments. Parliament is not a regulator. There is nothing parliament could have done about it until the relevant structures created by our democracy acted on the matter. Doesn’t parliament have a constitutional duty to ensure the SABC fulfils its public broadcasting mandate? Parliament will exercise that duty when it comes back. By then the election will have come and gone, won’t it? Parliament is not an institution that oversees elections. Do you agree that this could have a material impact on the elections? We are saying that any deviation from what it has been ordered to do as a public broadcaster, parliament must come down very hard on. By then it will be too late, surely? In our view the parties will not be unfavourably impacted on by the actions of the SABC. Censoring out news of violent service delivery protests favours the ruling party, surely? No, we don’t think so. Don’t the protests reflect badly on the governing party? No, no, no. I can assure you that many parties have a very dim view of any violence meted out as a result of protest action. Does this justify censoring it? We have clearly articulated our view that anything that happens, people of South Africa have a right to know; they have a right to information because only an informed society can be democratic. Can democratic elections be held when the people are uninformed? If this censorship was going to have an effect on the elections, this matter would have been before the Electoral Court. No party has put forward this sentiment. It will not negatively affect the election because there are other broadcasters in the country, there are newspapers. Surely you know that the only access 80% of people have to news is through the SABC? We are in agreement. That is why we are livid about it. But haven’t stopped it although Hlaudi Motsoeneng . . . Hlaudi doesn’t speak for the ANC in the SABC, he is not our proxy. Is he the president’s proxy? The president is the president of the ANC and represents the policy of the ANC. Hlaudi doesn’t, therefore he can’t be a proxy of the president. So who is protecting him? I have no idea. How has he got away with all this without political protection? You are asking the wrong person. Who should I be asking? That would be the board, that I think will appear before parliament to answer those questions. Why hasn't parliament demanded answers already? Nobody disagrees that we need to arrest the decay at the SABC. Even if we have come late into this arrest. All of us, including the national working committee of the ANC, the leadership of the ANC, all of us are prepared to face up to the SABC and say, “not in our name”.