Zuma to blame for SABC rot - Maimane

DA leader Mmusi Maimane and Tshwane mayoral candidate Solly Msimanga in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria. Maimane said President Jacob Zuma's questionable appointments at state-owned enterprises is causing turbulence at the SABC. Picture: Jonisayi Maromo

DA leader Mmusi Maimane and Tshwane mayoral candidate Solly Msimanga in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria. Maimane said President Jacob Zuma's questionable appointments at state-owned enterprises is causing turbulence at the SABC. Picture: Jonisayi Maromo

Published Jun 27, 2016

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Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma is at the centre of the rot at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane claimed on Monday.

“Jacob Zuma has captured state institutions. He, in turn, has been captured by the Guptas as he was captured by Schabir Shaik. He has deployed people at the institutions of government like the National Prosecuting Authority, SA Airways and now we are seeing it at the SABC,” Maimane said in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria.

Maimane said controversial SABC chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng should have resigned after adverse findings by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.

“He should have resigned at that point but because he is doing the African National Congress’ own bidding, he has captured the SABC. As a result of that, we find that even editorially, decisions are made which serve political interests. He is turning a public broadcaster into a state broadcaster which has no difference to the apartheid project of creating a public broadcaster which becomes a state broadcaster,” said Maimane.

Maimane said his assertions can be supported by recent high-level resignations at the SABC.

On Monday, SABC acting chief executive officer Jimi Matthews resigned from the public broadcaster with immediate effect, saying he can no longer be complicit in the way it is run.

“What is happening at the SABC is wrong and I can no longer be part of it,” Matthews said in his resignation letter, in which he also tendered an apology to those who felt he had betrayed sound journalistic principle in recent months.

“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,” the veteran journalist said in a letter he posted on Twitter.

“In the process, the prevailing corrosive atmosphere has impacted negatively on my moral judgment and has made me complicit in many decisions which I am not proud of.

“I wish also to apologise to the many people who I’ve let down by remaining silent when my voice needed to be heard.”

Matthews’s resignation comes days after he submitted a court affidavit in the long-running legal battle surrounding Motsoeneng.

In it, he argued that the SABC could not afford to lose Motsoeneng’s “rare” skills should a high court ruling which invalidated his appointment in 2014 be allowed to stand.

Earlier last week, Matthews in an answering affidavit to the complaint brought to the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) over the SABC’s decision to no longer air footage of violent protests, defended it as being consistent with constitutional law.

He argued that the protests were criminal and that it was unnecessary to dispatch journalists as the events were already being captured by police photographers.

Maimane saluted Matthews for speaking out on what was happening at the SABC.

“He (Matthews) has said what is happening at the SABC is wrong. I will therefore be taking all the action we can, (to ensure that) Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s project of SABC capture cannot continue. We stand with the employees of the SABC and the people of South Africa who want the public broadcaster to remain that. It must be transparent and not censored, and that we can be able to hold our government to account,” he said.

Maimane, accompanied by DA senior officials, including Tshwane mayoral candidate Solly Msimanga, was launching the party’s election manifesto for the tightly-contested August 3 local government polls.

African News Agency

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