Cape Town - The South African Communist Party has released a statement in which it condemns the "dictatorial regime" at the broadcaster and calls for it to be held to account.
Here is the full text of the statement:
The settlement reached at the North Gauteng High Court in Tshwane earlier today, in terms of which the SABC, obviously being in the wrong, was interdicted from implementing or enforcing its draconian censorship decision, is shameful of whatever is remaining of the SABC as a public broadcaster. The dictatorial regime that has established its rule at the SABC has all along insisted that its editorial censorship was the right way to go.
Secondly, the SABC’s dictatorship, determined to prove that it is above the law, refused to abide by the 11 July ruling made by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) to reverse its editorial censorship edict. Thirdly, as we speak right now, eight workers were unjustly and mercilessly dismissed because of the diktat. Their families have been plunged in distress and future income insecurity because of the uncaring attitude of the despotic SABC officialdom.
These embarrassing developments at the SABC prove that the public broadcaster is suffering from destruction as a result of the underlying administrative and governance decay that has been going on for a while now. The SACP condemns the despots in the strongest terms possible as well as the fact that all of the shameful events at the SABC are pushed at a huge cost to the public and tax payers.
The despots at the SABC must be held individually and severally liable for the fruitless and wasteful expenditure that is bleeding the SABC and for overdosing the SABC in unreasonable court actions instead of delivering quality public broadcasting uncensored.
IOL, adapted from a press release