Cape Town - The South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) decision to appoint Dumisani Hlophe as its political editor for news and current affairs is deeply puzzling and worrying, the Democratic Alliance said on Saturday.
"Mr Hlophe is not a practising journalist, his only experience with broadcasting is as a 'political analyst' on the SABC with 'commentary' often odd and thumb-sucked," DA spokeswoman Phumzile van Damme said.
There were many talented practising journalists the SABC could have chosen from, who would have been a far better choice. Hlophe did not inspire confidence at all. He is bad news," she said.
"We truly hope Mr Hlophe will prove our misgivings about him wrong and fulfil the SABC’s mandate to be impartial, independent and provide a reasonable, balanced opportunity for the public to receive a variety of points of view on matters of public concern, especially during an election year.
"His appointment is a step backwards for the SABC and is discouraging given the excellent appointments it has made of late," Van Damme said.