Hlaudi defends decisions

FORMER SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng has used his appearance at the Zondo commission to defend the controversial decisions he took while at the helm of the public broadcaster.

Motsoeneng defended his decision to ban the broadcasting of violent images during protests in 2016.

He said the decision was his and that he stood by it because journalists should at all times report responsibly.

He also pushed back on criticism on his decision to cancel the broadcasting of the media show The Editors, which was broadcast weekly on SAFM. “I have taken popular decisions and unpopular decisions,. he said

He said it was his role as the COO to take decisions such as the one related to the controversial issue of broadcasting violent protests on the news.

Motsoeneng said he stood by this decision, even after Icasa found it unlawful.

“It was my decision and I stand by it.”

“It was not a policy, it was a decision that we took at the SABC. We discussed these issues before we released the press statement.

“But we did not say they should not cover the protests.”

“The intention of that was that people should be responsible when they report about news.“What we were saying is don’t show the physicality of the protests of people. We did not ban anything, we just said let us be responsible,” he said.

When questioned by evidence leader Advocate Thandi Norman on whether he told the editorial team to give more air time to former president Jacob Zuma, Motsoeneng said he saw nothing wrong with the then-president receiving more air time.

“There were times they were calling him names live on the programmes.

“I told them they need to respect him because he is the president. There’s nothing wrong with that,” Motsoeneng said.

He said he had no reason to interfere with the jobs of SABC editorial staff because they did not report to him and as such he had no power to dismiss them.

He claimed he encouraged editorial debate and disagreements and would not have allowed a decision to unilaterally fire journalists.

SABC employees, including Krivani Pillay, Thandeka Gqubule-Mbeki and Foeta Krige were part of the so-called “SABC 8” who faced a disciplinary hearing and were later fired by the public broadcaster.

Their dismissal was successfully challenged in court.

The inquiry resumes today.