SABC news blackout looms
Acting chief Matthews quits, staff threaten protest action in battle for editorial independence
THE wheels, rims and axles are flying off the SABC as staff threaten a total news blackout. Senior managers, including journalists, are seeking an urgent meeting with the public broadcaster’s board to discuss recent editorial decisions taken by chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
Failure by the board to meet them would result in a total news blackout, staff warned.
The proposed blackout follows yesterday’s resignation of SABC acting chief executive Jimi Matthews over what he called a “corrosive atmosphere”.
This morning, more pressure will be exerted on Motsoeneng as the DA says it will picket outside the SABC headquarters demanding he vacate his office.
The DA said he had proved he is not a fit and proper person to manage the SABC.
SABC journalists told Times Media that Motsoeneng ruled like a dictator and anyone who opposed him was axed.
“The proposed blackout would see staff come to work, but do nothing to get the news out,” they said.
Another senior news producer said they would fight to regain control and to prove to the public they were not all “captured”.
“There are forces at play here and they are using Hlaudi to capture the SABC,” the radio news producer said, asking to remain anonymous for fear of being victimised like colleagues who have been suspended.
“We are going back to the old days and we will fight to the end to regain our editorial independence.”
SA National Editors Forum executive director Mathatha Tsedu said of possible blackouts: “Sanef has no view on the steps SABC staff would take.
“It’s a democratic country and they can do whatever they like . . . the staff are the ones in pain and in the middle of it, and they know how they want to deal with it.”
Matthews shocked the public yesterday when he said: “For months I have compromised values I hold dear under the mistaken belief that I could be more effective inside the SABC than outside . . . “What is happening at the SABC is wrong and I can no longer be a part of it.”
The “corrosive atmosphere” is created from, among other things, Motsoeneng’s order that no images of violent protests be shown in TV news broadcasts.
The blackouts are contemplated after a letter was written by SABC executive producers Busisiwe Ntuli and Krivani Pillay and senior investigative journalist Jacques Steenkamp, requesting a meeting with the board.
The letter is believed to be behind Matthews’s decision.
His resignation follows the suspension of economics editor Thandeka Gqubule, Radio Sonder Grense executive editor Foeta Krige and journalist Suna Venter, who were suspended for disagreeing with Motsoeneng’s orders not to report on anti-censorship protests at the SABC offices.
Matthews and the SABC’s group radio and TV editors and general managers wrote to Motsoeneng on Sunday, saying that their newsrooms had become sources of derision, despair and criticism.
“The developments have heightened this sense of fear, lack of clarity about our journalists’ responsibility and low staff morale,” they said.
They criticise the removal of the SABC’s newspaper slots and The Editors show on SAfm’s AM Live, which they say amounts to censorship.
In their letter, they said: “As journalists having to operationalise the policies of this public institution, we feel aggrieved that journalistic integrity continues to be compromised.
“We wish to register our deep concern for our colleagues who have been suspended for expressing their right to freedom of expression by simply debating and assessing the newsworthiness of events as expected.”
The latest pronouncements “fundamentally erode the right of the public to know the whole story about developments in their communities” and “effectively render our newsrooms incapable of providing compelling audio visual content that educates and informs the public and [disseminating] balanced and accurate information”.
Parliamentary communications portfolio committee chairman Humphrey Maxegwana said the latest developments were alarming.
“When parliament’s recess ends we will meet and discuss summoning the SABC to explain exactly what is going on,” he said.
Media Monitoring Africa director William Bird said a blackout was an extreme but effective tactic.
“These are desperate times at the SABC. Journalists are being suspended for legitimate dissent,” Bird said.
SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition national coordinator Sekoetlane Phamodi said: “It’s time the SABC’s rank and file stand up and show the broadcaster’s board and parliament, which is derelict in its duties to ensure stability within the SABC, that the current situation of decay cannot be tolerated.
“The SABC belongs to South Africans. We have a right to know what is going on.”
Broadcasting, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers Union president Hannes du Buisson said: “We support any action as long as it is properly managed and complies with labour legislation.”
Yesterday, Solidarity addressed a letter to Motsoeneng and other SABC officials, threatening legal action if the suspensions of Krige and Venter were not overturned before the end of the month.
Solidarity deputy general secretary Marius Croucamp confirmed being involved in the battle over the suspensions, but said he could not comment on it at this stage.
He did, however, say the public broadcaster’s credibility was hanging by a thread.
“People realise they are receiving only a selective and misleading picture of what is happening in our country.
“How will this affect the upcoming elections? How can people still have faith in what they see and hear? This is completely unconstitutional,” Croucamp said. – Additional reporting by Riaan Marais
THE overwhelming reaction of many South Africans to news yesterday that SABC acting chief executive Jimi Matthews had resigned was interestingly not shock that he had quit the public broadcaster.
Instead, it was that he had taken so long to come to what many saw as an inevitable and only logical decision, given the fast deteriorating state of corporate governance at the SABC.
In his resignation letter posted on Twitter yesterday, Matthews said: “For many months I have compromised the values I hold dear under the mistaken belief that I could be more effective inside the SABC than outside, passing comment from the sidelines.
“In the process the prevailing corrosive atmosphere has impacted negatively on my moral judgment and has made me complicit in many decisions which I am not proud of.”
Matthews’s resignation was a stunning about-turn by a man who appears to have finally given in to his conscience. Just days ago, he stated in court papers that the SABC could ill afford to lose a rare skill such as that of controversial chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
A week later he would come out to apologise for remaining silent as one of our nation’s democratic pillars faced its worst ethical decay since 1994.
“What is happening at the SABC is wrong and I can no longer be part of it,” Matthews said in his letter.
His decision comes as it also emerged yesterday that the public broadcaster faces a tough legal battle from three of its suspended senior staffers. The three were suspended because they dared to question an unethical instruction – one of many – from Motsoeneng to ignore an anti-censorship protest against the SABC. Their case is significant. It is a fight to preserve the editorial independence of the SABC.
It is to protect the rights of journalists to work with integrity, guided only by the laws that govern this country and without fear or favour.
Their fight will also, hopefully, prompt the SABC board finally to take a stand against a man who lacks the moral fibre required to lead a public institution.