The DA has thrown its weight being Lotus FM jock Ravi G, demanding to know if the decision to axe him over comments about the president were politically motivated.
A delegation led by Zwakele Mncwango, the DA leader in KwaZulu-Natal, met with Lotus FM management on Wednesday morning to raise concerns over the termination of Ravi Govender’s contract following a furore about his Facebook post referring to President Jacob Zuma as a zombie and an uneducated creature.
Govender’s contract, which was renewed year on year for 13 years, was terminated by the SABC on Monday.
The DA visited the state broadcaster’s Durban offices of their own volition and in their engagement with the regional management, raised concerns the decision to axe him being because of “undue political interference.”
“The purpose was not to enter into the private legal contract between the employer and the employer but to seek clarity on whether there was any political influence on the decision to terminate Govender’s contract,” said Mncwango.
He said the regional management could not answer these questions but undertook to forward the DA’s letter to the head office in Johannesburg.
In the letter, the DA sought to find out if anyone had laid a complaint in writing to the SABC regarding Govender’s post and by whom.
They also sought to find out the process followed before Govender’s contract was terminated and if the management of Lotus FM received instructions from “higher authorities within the SABC to take action against Govender and if so, by whom and what was the nature of that instruction.”