A showdown between the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the SABC is looming after the union federation this week vowed to stage huge national protests later this month against the public broadcaster, which it accuses of bias against the black majority.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelin-zima Vavi this week said his organisation would stage protests around the country against the SABC on September 24, Heritage Day, in an attempt to force the public broadcaster to meet its mandate.
At the heart of Cosatu’s discontent is the commercialisation of the public broadcaster, which the organisation likens to privatisation, Cosatu spokesperson Vukani Mde said.
Cosatu also claims that the SABC’s television programming is irrelevant and undermines the black majority. Mde said the SABC has ”done nothing for the minority languages in South Africa”.
”The SABC continues to cater for only five of the 11 official languages. That is an example of how the SABC is failing us,” he said.
Mde said that his organisation was concerned about the Americanised soap operas and entertainment programmes disguised as ”educational programmes” by the SABC.
He said attempts by the trade union federation to engage with SABC CEO Peter Matlare have failed to produce results. Mde said Cosatu wrote a letter to Matlare in July but he has not responded.
The SABC, Mde claims, does not enjoy independence from commercial interests.
”A few weeks ago Cosatu leaders met a head of public broadcasting at the SABC to request that it introduce television programmes that are relevant to the poor and the working class. We were told that this was not possible because of commercial pressures,” Mde said.
”The SABC is supposed to provide services, including cultural services and news, to the poor people. When you commercialise that you distort the values that we seek to address,” Mde said.
He said some Cosatu leaders have started to mobilise communities to support the September 24 march.
Mde said his organisation chose to protest on Heritage Day because the objective of the march was to ”protect our heritage”.
”All of our affiliates have already pledged their support for the march and we believe that it will be well supported,” Mbe said.
Cosatu general secretary Vavi used his keynote address at the funeral of ANC activist Mthetheleli Mvana in the Eastern Cape at the weekend to mobilise support.
Vavi told mourners that his organisation was targeting the SABC because the public broadcaster ”does not reflect the aspirations of all people who are paying their television licences”. Vavi also attacked the South African media in general, saying it was controlled and dominated by the private sector, whose interests were in conflict with those of the working class.
Numerous efforts to get the SABC’s response were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, the Scorpions crime-busting unit announced this week it is probing fraud allegations at the SABC’s Auckland Park headquarters. At the centre of the probe is the public broadcaster’s R900-million commissioning budget.