Johannesburg - As ANN7 and the SABC have come under fire by the South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) for their conduct, the national broadcaster’s acting chief executive has resigned.
On Monday morning, SABC acting group chief executive, Jimi Matthews, posted his resignation letter on social media, saying the SABC’s climate had become too “corrosive” to remain in his position.
“For many months, I have compromised the values that 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 judgement and has made me complicit in many decisions which I am not proud of... What is happening at the SABC is wrong and I can no longer be a part of it,” he wrote.
The resignation comes just days after three top SABC journalists were placed on suspension for objecting to a decision not to cover a protest on censorship last week.
Meanwhile, Sanef has noted with concern the dismissal of eight ANN7 employees.
In a statement issued on Monday, Sanef said it noted with concern that the journalists were fired allegedly after objecting to being named as parties to a company letter to four banks that had revoked banking services to the television station’s owners, Oakbay Holdings.
The employees had been part of a group protesting against a supposedly mandatory meeting at the company with ANC Youth League president, Collen Maine.
“Staff reportedly said they felt it inappropriate to be caught up in the company’s corporate and political battles,” the Sanef statement read. Alongside the eight dismissals, 12 other employees received final written warnings while 11 others were served with regular warnings.
“Sanef will request a meeting with ANN7 editor-in-chief Moegsien Williams. Labour matters are firmly in the purview of individual employees, but this case revolves around freedom of association and independent journalism. The staff were in different instances charged with intimidation and insubordination. A staff member faced a charge for calling into a radio station to protest the Maine meeting on air. Sanef believes the staff members all have a right to appeal,” the statement continued.
Attempts to contact Williams on Monday morning for comment were unsuccessful. However, media reports at the weekend showed Oakbay had confirmed the dismissals, but it refused to discuss what the disciplinary processes concerned.
“There has been an internal disciplinary process due to gross misconduct by staff. However, we do not comment on staff issues or disciplinary processes,” the company’s corporate communications told Media24 on Saturday.
Last week, three top SABC journalists who questioned a decision to not cover the Right2Know campaign’s censorship protest were also fired.
On Facebook, a number of employees had replaced their profile pictures with images of themselves with black tape over their mouths.
Sanef director, Mathatha Tsedu, this morning said he would only be comfortable commenting on Matthews’s resignation after speaking to him.
On Friday, Sanef said it was shocked by the suspension of SABC economics editor, Thandeka Gqubule, RSG executive producer, Foeta Krige, and senior journalist, Suna Venter.
R2K media freedom and diversity organiser, Micah Reddy, said Matthews’s immediate resignation from the public broadcaster was a good thing.
“It shows that some people can still find conscience at this time in SABC. Hopefully others will follow in his lead,” Reddy said.
He hoped others at SABC would be prompted to do something about chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng's rule at the public broadcaster.