Still reeling from being found guilty by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of invading a woman’s privacy, the SABC will now have to answer to the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) — and possibly the police.
The complaints commission last week fined the public broadcaster R20 000 for airing a live SABC3 programme, 3 Talk, in which a studio guest spoke of being denied access to his children by his ex-wife and said his children were being sexually abused by the woman’s boyfriend.
The show was broadcast on June 18 last year and repeated the following morning. “This amounted to a gross error on the part of the producer, whose omission [not removing the offending parts for the rebroadcast] had led to a further contravention of the code, which justified the imposition of the fine,” the complaints commission ruled.
The SABC was also sanctioned for contravening the Broadcasting Code by denying the woman the right of reply. The woman and her former husband may not be named to protect the identities of their minor children.
The complaints commission also held that the allegations broadcast on 3 Talk relating to the woman and the children constituted a violation of their right to privacy.
CGE legal head Mmathari Mashao this week confirmed to the Mail & Guardian that her office had contacted the SABC about “some questions we would like answered” regarding complaints laid against the public broadcaster.
The woman laid a complaint with the South African Police Service immediately after the broadcast, contending that the identification of the man effectively identified the woman and the children, and so contravened the Divorce Act. The law expressly forbids the identification of minors in a divorce matter. It is also an offence to publish anything pertaining to the divorce other than the fact that the couple is no longer married. This matter was held in abeyance until the Broadcasting Complaints Commission had completed its probe, to avoid parallel complaints processes.
The heart of the woman’s argument to the complaints commission was that the SABC did not tell its viewers that the man in question had failed to comply with a maintenance order and a domestic violence interdict. The SABC told the commission that this was irrelevant to why the man had been invited to appear on the programme.
Two months after the SABC broadcasts, the man was convicted of failing to pay maintenance; he was sentenced to three months’ jail, suspended for five years.
“[The CGE’s] powers are to ensure that the rights of women as outlined in various legislation are valued and respected. In terms of the allegations brought to our attention, it appears as if various violations regarding domestic violence have been committed,” said Mashao.
“We still have questions which we would like the SABC to answer. We normally do not divulge the details of correspondence but suffice to say we will not repeat what the [broadcasting complaints commission] has done,” said Mashao.
SABC spokesperson Paul Setsetse said the corporation believed the matter was closed after the ruling “but if we are asked by the police, we will gladly co-operate”.