JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Sunday 7.00pm
PUBLIC Protector Selby Baqwa’s investigation into Mpumalanga Premier Ndaweni Mahlangu is in danger of being scuppered by the refusal of the SABC to release its audio and television tapes of Mahlangu’s notorious defence of liars.
Baqwa formally requested copies of the unedited tapes from SABC chairman, Reverend Hawu Mbatha last week as part of a high profile probe into Mahlangu’s announcement that it was acceptable for politicians to lie to the public.
The investigation was launched after Mahlangu sparked international outrage three weeks ago by telling journalists that lying is an accepted international political technique.
He has since apologised for the “unfortunate” comments in a terse three paragraph press release but refuses to discuss the issue in public and has instead accused the media of quoting his original comments out of context. Insisting he was only jesting, Mahlangu has however failed to retract the statement that lying is acceptable and has also refused to explain his criteria for including three controversial MECs in his cabinet.
All three are the subject of police, Auditor General or Heath special investigative unit probes for corruption and fraud. Baqwa described Mahlangu’s comments as “abominable, outrageous and unacceptable” and this week requested the ‘raw’ SABC radio and television footage to judge whether the premier was actually misquoted or if he had been joking at the time. SABC News chief executive, Enoch Sithole, confirmed on Friday that the broadcaster has formally turned Baqwa’s request down.
“The whole country is out to nail Mahlangu this time but who will it be tomorrow or the next time? We cannot create precedents. The next step would be for investigators to force our reporters to testify against people,” said Sithole. Pointing out that the SABC had already broadcast 12 minutes of the one-hour press conference, Sithole said Baqwa was welcome to as many copies of the broadcast programmes as he needed.
“But we do not release our raw copy to anyone for any reason,” he said.