The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) defended its withdrawal of an “unauthorised” documentary on President Thabo Mbeki in a full-page newspaper advertisement on Saturday.
“At no stage was any pressure, political or otherwise, exerted on our editorial or legal staff,” read the public broadcaster’s advert, which ran in the Saturday Star and was signed by SABC group CEO Dali Mpofu.
The SABC had tried to “renegotiate and reschedule” the documentary, which was to have been screened on May 17 but was pulled the same day.
It was part of a series of “unauthorised” documentaries on prominent people.
“Since then, the producers of the documentary, an outside production company called Broad Daylight Films, have initiated a campaign whose main thrust is to mobilise public opinion around the notion that the SABC’s abovementioned decision was motivated by political considerations, more specifically, politically motivated pressure by external political forces and/or internally by senior management of the SABC.”
Mpofu said the documentary was pulled because of “editorial and legal concerns”. The SABC felt it lacked balance and had structural defects.
The national broadcaster’s lawyers said sections were defamatory and consent was needed from other media to broadcast some of the material.
External legal opinion agreed that parts were “incurably defamatory and that none of the legal defences to defamation of character were available to the SABC”.
Mpofu said Broad Daylight Films “failed or refused to effect suggested editorial changes”, which the SABC had the right to order in terms of its contract with Broad Daylight.
The documentary was pulled at the last minute and Mpofu said he had personally apologised to Broad Daylight later for not having had time to warn it of this because of tight deadlines.
Commentators
Mpofu on Thursday announced an official inquiry into whether certain commentators had been banned from the airwaves, the Mail & Guardian reported on Friday.
The Sowetan revealed on Tuesday that four political commentators known for their robust criticism of Mbeki had been put on a list of analysts that producers 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, the M&G reported.
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 Zimbabwean 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 the 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.
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.”