Political meddling destroys SABC

Congress of the People (Cope) condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the hijacking of the SABC by the ruling party to – as many people are suggesting – make it into a propaganda machine.

The Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi, is becoming the unabashed minister of propaganda.

The minister is the political head of the public broadcaster. She needs to ensure compliance with its mandate. By all appearances, she is doing the opposite. She is using strong-arm tactics to achieve party political objectives.

This is completely unacceptable to Cope.

If there is any truth in newspaper reports quoting her as saying she could not act against COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng, pic- tured, because “Baba loved him so much”, or words to that effect, we surely have a constitutional crisis on our hands.

Anyway, much that is happening every day there is confirming our fear of the ruling party tightening its grip on the SABC. The SABC is no longer an authentic public broadcaster but increasingly a propaganda machine for the ruling party.

We believe to restore the credibility of the SABC it is imperative for political meddling in management or its financial matters or its editorial interference to end immediately.

Cope calls upon civil society organisations, such as the Save Our SABC coalition, to raise their voices against this unacceptable situation within the SABC.

Things have come to a sorry pass and the time for all of us to stand up and be counted is now. Dennis Bloem Cope spokesperson