YFM DJ back on air

YFM DJ Sbu Leope is back on the air after he was earlier suspended for allegedly appearing next to African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma at a rally, the ANC Youth League said on Tuesday.

Leope apparently appeared next to presidential front-runner Zuma in television coverage of the party’s Siyanqoba rally on Sunday.

ANC Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said the decision was taken after a meeting between the league and YFM management.

The radio station suspended Leope as it felt his appearance next to Zuma might have had legal implications for the station with the Independent Electoral Commission, The Sowetan reported.

The meeting, according to Shivambu, concluded with the decision to reinstate Leope as he, and any other YFM employee, had the right to associate with any political party.

“... [The] young have a democratic right for a political affiliation and right of expression,” Shivambu said in a statement.

YFM management were in a meeting and not immediately available for comment.

Leope, who hosts the morning breakfast show on the Gauteng-based youth radio station, said he was not aware he was being filmed when standing next to Zuma.

“I was, however, shocked to get an urgent call on Sunday night telling me that I was off air until after the elections,” he told the newspaper.

He denied ever using the station platform to encourage listeners to vote for Zuma.

Earlier this month Leope, who has been with the station since May last year after resigning from the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s Zulu radio station Ukhozi FM, was suspended after playing a song that was not on the station’s play list.—Sapa