The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) on Tuesday added its voice to a call from the Congress of SA Trade Unions that SA Broadcasting Corporation news programming chairman Thami Mazwai resign for remarks made before Parliament’s communications portfolio committee last week.
Last Tuesday, Mazwai told the committee: ”Our (news) model is not going to be premised on what is happening on the commercially-driven media.
”There is always a tendency to try and compare the SABC with the other media. It’s a grievous mistake.”
On the fact that neither news nor society was static, he said: ”As a broadcaster, you have to be very flexible when you deal with these issues on a day to day basis.
”You can’t afford to be driven by old cliches, such as objectivity, the right of the editor, and so on. Those are old cliches that no longer address the challenges of the day.”
On Monday Cosatu said it was ”alarmed” and dismayed” at Mazwai’s statements.
”To aver that objectivity and fairness are ‘cliches’ that can no longer deal with the new ‘realities’ would be laughable were it not so dangerous,” the union federation said in a statement.
In a statement the FXI said Cosatu’s call was entirely appropriate.
”The board, as public representatives must not be allowed to waver in their defence of the SABC’s independence. Such wavering has been very evident in recent times; in fact the board’s response to Mazwai’s statement has been weak-kneed and unprincipled. The claim by the chairman of the board, Vincent Maphai, that Mazwai was speaking as an individual is an inadequate response: the board
should condemn his statement outright,” he FXI said.
The FXI further warned that unless the SABC’s board started taking clear and principled positions on the independence of the public broadcaster, it would call for its resignation as well. – Sapa