The "Eksteen affair" has developed into a "giant cover-up, with all the makings of a small information scandal", says the man who was vice-chairman of the SABC board until last year. Professor Sampie Terreblanche, who served on the board from 1972 and was vice-chairman from 1982 to 1987, was responding to news that the director-general of the SABC, Riaan Eksteen, had been removed from office and sent on his way with a severance deal totalling well over half a million rand.
Speaking from Stellenbosch, where he is professor of economics, Terreblanche told the Weekly Mail: "The size of the payout forces us to ask what is being covered up. "I think it is a great pity he (Eksteen) accepted the golden hand-shake. It would have been much more in the interests of the country, the SABC and himself not to have accepted, and to have spoken his mind about the real relationship between the government and the SABC. "What we are talking about is a major scandal regarding the 'independence' of the SABC from government. We need an 'open-up' , not a 'cover-up'". The controversy was "part and parcel of a pattern whereby the South African public is being kept in the dark about the real nature and causes of the crisis where information is being withheld or banned" he said.
Terreblanche said it had to be asked to what extent "the SABC would now become nothing more than an extension of the government's internal information network". He rejected the claim that Eksteen's demise was a result of financial-losses suffered under his reign, saying that the cabinet could have reversed the deficit at any stage by increasing the licence fee in line with inflation. "To blame Eksteen and the previous board is totally unfair – it's a transparent kind of excuse. It was the cabinet's decision not to increase the fee, because it was politically unpopular," he said. He estimates that the fee kept up with inflation rates, it would currently be in the region of R150 annually, rather than R72 as at present.
Terreblanche finds it hard to believe the "confidence gap" between the board and Eksteen – cited by Minister of Information and Broadcasting Stoffel van der Merwe as one of the reasons for the director-general's ousting – is based on matters financial. "I want to know to what extent it links with the 'Hendrickse incident' last year," he said. "Surely the complaint could not have been that the SABC is not subservient enough? "Especially since then (the incident), it has been exceptionally propagandistic for the National Party. Perhaps Eksteen tried to save his neck – but didn't succeed in the end. One has to ask whether the Hendrickse affair was so serious that it was only a question of time and process before this happened. "The public has a right to know. We are not making categorical statements, but it is public money that will be given to Eksteen. We must ask."
He was convinced that whoever was chosen as the new director-general would have "closer connections with Tuynhuys and (Stoffel) van der Merwe or PW (Botha)". This, he said, would be "a setback for the SABC, especially for the morale of employees. They join what supposed to be an independent corporation, they are not working for a government department. This is going to be a big blow for these people, artistic people, who may become a laughing stock to others."
He claimed even senior SABC officials displayed disquiet about developments at Eksteen's press conference announcing his resignation: "I know these people and the expressions on their faces were shocking. They would like a lot of independence, but they know they'll now have a new man who will be very sensitive to words from Tuynhuys."
Terreblanche said when the SABC was first established in the 1930s, it was moulded on the example of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has "a remarkable independence from government. This has made it the finest broadcasting organisation in the world.
"Is anything left of those morals in the SABC?" he asked.
*Eksteen declined to give interviews to the media yesterday. – Shaun Johnson
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
