Jacquie Golding-Duffy
THE SABC has axed a string of high-profile sports commentators just days before a huge sports programme relaunch, in favour of veteran presenter Martin Locke.
Topsport general manager Edward Griffiths said this week eight presenters are to go. They include athletics presenter Elma Neethling, the first female to conquer the all-male domain of sports anchoring; Pieter van den Berg, a Topsport stalwart who has been with the station since its inception; soccer commentator Abe Metsileng; live studio commentator Paul Freathy; cricket commentator Vuyo Mbuli; Ursula Stapelfedt; Strydom Sigila; and all-round commentator Michael Abrahamson.
Griffiths said the eight could still be used on a freelance basis, but none had been chosen to host the 12 new sport shows the SABC is to launch next month, or to act as live sports anchors.
Locke, meanwhile, has landed the prime slot: he will be presenting a new Saturday afternoon Topsport programme starting on March 8.
Griffiths said Locke was chosen because he is a “professional and is the only person who is qualified to handle such a complex programme.
“We used to have a rota system where we used to alternate presenters and always boast a different face,” Griffiths added. “Now, with the changes happening in Topsport, I want a single presenter to give each show a branding if you like.
“You have to distinguish between contract and freelancing. All we are saying is that we are now only going to pay each presenter for the show he hosts. Before, everyone was being paid even though they only worked maybe once a month.”
An anonymous fax sent to the Mail & Guardian and signed “SABC Topsport anchors” accuses Griffiths of favouritism toward Locke, claiming he “thinks the sun shines out of Martin Locke”.
The fax alleges that Griffiths’s decisions are unilateral and based on “personal preferences”, ignoring even the choices of the eight executive producers in the Topsport division.
Griffiths denied this. He said he has always had an “open door policy” and dissatisified staffers are free to approach him. Executive producers are not bound by any decisions he makes, but are free to choose whoever they want as presenters, he added.