SABC airtime for Zuma angers DA

If it were not for the South African taxpayer, Jacob Zuma would long since have had his day in the dock, says Helen Zille.

If it were not for the South African taxpayer, Jacob Zuma would long since have had his day in the dock, says Helen Zille.

Published Aug 1, 2013

Share

Johannesburg - Live SABC television coverage of a speech by President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday night smacked of electioneering, the Democratic Alliance said.

“In fact, the president's speech sounded much like an election speech,” party spokesman Mmusi Maimane said on Thursday.

“He used the opportunity to rattle off a list of supposed government achievements.”

Maimane said he would insist on an explanation from SABC head of news Jimi Matthews.

Zuma was speaking at a Black Business Council dinner at Gallagher Estate in Midrand. He spoke of the country's achievements in the past 19 years.

“We state without fear of contradiction that South Africa is a much better place now than it was before 1994, thanks to the hard work of South Africans,” he said.

Maimane described the live coverage as political abuse of the national broadcaster a few months before the 2014 general elections.

Attempts to get comment from the SABC were unsuccessful.

Sapa

* If you use Gmail to read IOL's newsletters, note that Google is rolling out a new tabbed inbox that filters your mail into 5 separate tabs - Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates and Forums. IOL emails will probably be sent to the "Promotions" tab instead of the "Primary" tab. If you don't want it that way, drag the newsletter from the Promotions tab to the Primary tab. An alert will pop up. Click "yes" and your newsletters will continue to go to your Primary inbox.

Related Topics: