Phalaphala FM had long had an association with VBS, embarking on a series of charity events, including relief for impoverished schoolchildren, which the bank sponsored. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
A group of listeners are up in arms against public broadcaster SABC’s Phalaphala FM radio station in Limpopo, accusing it of having censored news and on-air discussions about the R2.3-billion VBS Mutual Bank scandal, which has seen 17 people arrested to date.
At the centre of the controversy is Venda King Toni Mphephu Ramabulana, who was implicated in a 2018 report commissioned by the South African Reserve Bank into the looting of funds from the now-defunct bank.
Listeners have long accused him of driving what they say is the radio station’s censorship of the VBS story. The issue has become topical once more, as Ramabulana battles a legal challenge to his VhaVenda kingship.
The listeners want the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) to act against those at the SABC they accuse of corruptly muting coverage in 2018 of the king’s role in the VBS scandal.
“The Hawks, it seems, are looking everywhere but the public broadcaster. It’s no secret that Phalaphala FM is captured. For a long time, people were not even allowed to mention VBS on-air. Callers were muffled on account of mentioning that bank,” said listener Victor Muthego.
“There was a period — between five and seven months — when you couldn’t even say anything about VBS. I’ve been toing and froing about this with the current affairs anchor Mpho Rathando, who said on-air that there was a directive not to allow callers to air any views on VBS.
“When asked who issued the directive, the anchor said it was vhahulwane [superiors]. So there was no clarity whether the directive came from Freddy Sadiki [the station’s former manager] or directly from Auckland Park.
“But we know Khosikhulu [Ramabulana] was instrumental in bringing about the censorship on VBS items. He had captured the radio. He was, after all, a prominent shareholder at the bank. They were practically sponsoring the majority of Phalaphala’s events so he was literally going to have a sway on the goings-on at the station.”
Phalaphala FM had long had an association with VBS, embarking on a series of charity events, including relief for impoverished schoolchildren, which the bank sponsored. It was also one of the sponsors of the Phalaphala FM Royal Heritage Festival, an annual arts and music event.
“There was bound to be a conflict of interest. It could be asked if management at Phalaphala wanted to generate income for the station, compromising the editorial policy of the corporation,” said one source who wanted to remain anonymous.
Ramabulana’s spokesperson, Mathivha Makonde, said it was mere speculation that the king could interfere with the editorial independence at Phalaphala FM. He said Ramabulana’s lawyers, including Mudinda Ramagwede and Paul Makhavhu, had merely asked the SABC for fair and objective coverage about the king in relation to VBS.
“SABC people had taken a side. The station’s announcers seemed biased against the king. We wrote a representation to the SABC that we’d go to the ombudsman by way of correcting the situation,” Makonde said.
“My recollection of the events at the time is that [the lawyers] met Freddy Sadiki and Sharon Ravele [the programme manager] to make representations.”
It’s not clear what transpired at the meeting and what the SABC committed to, but one source suggested that “management acted on an empty threat by the legal team of the king because the threat [to approach the ombudsman] was never carried out”.
“Ravele and Sadiki should have continued with their work and allowed the king’s legal team to approach the ombudsman and that is where the SABC would have got an opportunity to respond to a formal complaint.”
Asked for comment, Ravele redirected questions to Sadiki, saying: “I have no recollection of the instruction about muting callers who talk about VBS or the king. Also, I have no recollection of the meeting with the king’s legal team. It’s something you can ask Freddy Sadiki who was the station manager at the time.”
Sadiki could not be reached for comment.
Muthego’s claim was corroborated by Marikos Vhengani, a regular contributor on Phalaphala FM call-ins, who said listeners were gagged from talking about VBS in the months prior to the release of advocate Terry Motau’s 2018 report, which outlined how the bank had fraudulently paid close to R2-billion to more than 50 people between 2015 and 2018.
“Mpho Rathando was asked on air about the gag on VBS and he said it was a directive from the seniors. If the Hawks are planning on making more arrests, they should set their sights inside the SABC, particularly Phalaphala FM, in case money was exchanging hands there,” Vhengani said.
But Rathando insisted there was no editorial directive not to cover VBS, but that rather “there was an instruction to mute callers who make derogatory remarks, people who come on air simply to hurl insults, using a public broadcast service to defame other people”.
“It’s a public broadcaster and we espouse the values of respect and decency. If you come on air and refer to the king as Toni instead of Khosikhulu Toni Mphephu Ramabulana, you are disrespectful. That’s not our culture. It’s not respectful to address a sitting king by simply using his first name,” Rathando said.
“So listeners were not censored. Personally, I wouldn’t work for a newsroom that encourages censorship — I was going to walk away. I’m all for media freedom. People were muted for reasons I’ve stated. There was no directive to suppress views on VBS.”
Muthego disagrees: “Directive is as good as instruction because, in this instance at least, they accomplish the same thing. The instruction in question was used indiscriminately to silence views on VBS, whether linked to muhali [the king] or not. The moment you mentioned VBS you were muted right away. It had nothing to do with insulting anyone.”
Hawks national spokesperson Thandi Mbambo confirmed that more arrests were imminent in the VBS case, but would not say whether any would involve the SABC.
“I can’t preempt [by] speaking on future arrests. What we’ve done so far is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s still more arrests to be made and I can’t say if the SABC is exempt,” she said.
SABC head of news and current affairs Phathiswa Magopeni denied any knowledge of censorship, saying: “That wouldn’t have happened under my watch. Censorship makes me sick. I would have dealt with it.”
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