South African Broadcasting Corporation chief executive Dali Mpofu on Thursday announced an official inquiry into whether certain commentators had been banned from the airwaves.
The Sowetan revealed on Tuesday that four political commentators known for their robust criticism of President Thabo Mbeki had been put on a list of analysts that ÂÂproducers of the SABC’s news programmes were discouraged from using.
Speaking on SAfm, Mpofu pledged that ”if we find that they have been arbitrarily banned, we will come back to the public [to inform them]”.
The inquiry may place Mpofu and the MD of news, Snuki Zikalala, on a collision course, as it is now common cause that ”arbitrary bannings” did take place.
On AM-Live this week, anchor John Perlman contradicted SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago, saying he had first-hand knowledge of restrictions on certain analysts.
It is well-known that Zikalala has told producers not to use certain commentators. During last year’s ZimbabÂÂwean election, Moeletsi Mbeki and Elinor Sisulu were banned because Zikalala believed they were not ”on the ground in Zimbabwe” and ”did not know what was happening”. Mbeki has subsequently featured on SABC.
Mbeki was exiled in Zimbabwe, while Sisulu is Zimbabwean. While both are from struggle families, they do not subscribe to quiet diplomacy and have been outspoken about the political mismanagement, economic meltdown and rights abuses in South Africa’s northern neighbour.
The four now under the spotlight differ markedly from the SABC in their analysis of Mbeki. Presidential reporting at the SABC follows the Malaysian and rest-of-Africa model, which seeks to provide wall-to-wall affirmative coverage of the head of state.
Producers say Zikalala has tightened the grip on news coverage at the corporation, particularly at SAfm, which has made its mark as the home of high-quality, independent journalism. He now often sits in studios and uses a system where journalists must post on the SABC intranet their proposed line-ups of guests.
These are monitored and changed after Zikalala has seen them, say producers. He relays his preferences to radio news managers.
Previously, programme producers enjoyed greater autonomy and authority to include a wider range of views.
Zikalala failed to respond to five telephone calls and text messages requesting his comment this week.
A conflict over the SABC’s role may be emerging between Zikalala and Mpofu, who said this week he was committed to ”a diversity and plurality of views … nobody will be victimised [by forthcoming regulations on the use of commentators]”.
Mpofu said an inquiry was ”the only decent thing to do. The truth will out if you open up to scrutiny. There is no profit to be gained from sweeping things under the carpet.”
Zikalala and Mpofu have very different management styles coloured by their political histories. Both are African National Congress men, but Zikalala, a former exile, is noted for his top-down approach and need to control both staffers and information.
Mpofu, a prominent member of the United Democratic Front, who became CE last August, is more consensual in approach and open to a plurality of views.
The three editorial crises he has faced during his nine-month tenure have been handled directly by him, with Zikalala taking a back seat. In each case, he has sought to open up the incident to scrutiny, seek outside assistance and hold public forums, either by going on air or holding press conferences.
Zikalala’s style is more defensive: in the past, he has battened down the hatches and said nothing, or ÂÂcounter-attacked by using the SABC’s airwaves.
Their two divergent approaches went on display during the controversy over the coverage of the Mlambo-Ngcuka incident last August. Zikalala put out the story, through the former spokesman Paul Setsetse, that the cameraman had deemed the heckling unimportant. He then attempted to lay the issue to rest by making no further public statements. Mpofu instituted an inquiry chaired by Rhodes University professor of journalism Guy Berger, which found that poor communication and bad corporate governance at the SABC had led to the broadcaster not showing the heckling when it had the material at its disposal.
SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago did not respond to four requests for comment.