Former deputy president Jacob Zuma has written a letter to the chief executive of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) demanding why a interview with him on Sunday was cancelled.
According to 702 radio news on Monday, Zuma was invited to speak to the state broadcaster after he was judged Newsmaker of the Year. It said the corporation reacted by saying that it would have broken the sub judice rule.
Zuma is facing rape and corruption charges and was removed from the national Cabinet in June.
Meanwhile, official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) communications spokesperson Dene Smuts said in a statement that Zuma’s aide — Mo Shaik, the brother of his financial adviser Schabir Shaik — had echoed what her party had been saying on numerous occasions.
He told a Sunday newspaper that: ”We are disappointed that the SABC has designed for itself a role which was not intended by the legislation which underlines its functions as public broadcaster. It cannot and should not act as a censor for what the South African public should hear.”
Smuts said: ”That is exactly what the SABC news division does.”
”The confusion displayed by the corporation in first inviting Jacob Zuma for an interview with SABC1 talk show host Xolani Gwala as Newsmaker of the Year and then cancelling the event is illustrative of the confusion into which his master’s voice was thrown this year.”
”A broadcasting house which follows the political leader instead of following the news hardly knows how to conduct itself when the ruling party splits into two, and develops two heads, as it did in 2005. Jacob Zuma’s aspirations have been destroyed by the latest charge against him, and the SABC seems to feel it can safely ditch the interview.”
Smuts, a former journalist, said: ”Until the left-wing of the tripartite alliance produces a credible new crown prince or princess, we are set for the traditional daily dose of [President Thabo] Mbeki and Cabinet colleagues on SABC TV news bulletins.”
Lesego Mncwango, the acting spokesperson for the SABC said: ”I think the reasons were described in the Sunday Independent. We’re not going to delve into any further detail about the matter.”
”An editorial decision was taken to cancel the show,” she said.
Mncwango told the paper that the response from Zuma had arrived late and that when they requested an interview with Zuma, he had not yet been charged with rape.
”Legal advice was sought, and the editorial decision made not to proceed with the interview is in respect of the sub judice rule. It would have been virtually impossible to proceed with the interview without touching on issues that would have infringed on the sub judice rule,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. – AFP