The South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) disciplinary process against SAfm journalist John Perlman should be called off immediately, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Tuesday.
Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said Perlman should be praised rather than disciplined.
”Without his heroic deed the SABC might not have been compelled to hold its commission of inquiry, which confirmed the blacklisting allegations and vindicated John Perlman’s statement,” he said.
This comes after reports that the SABC’s news and current affairs boss, Snuki Zikalala, and Perlman may face disciplinary hearings arising out of the ”blacklisting” report.
The commission’s 78-page report confirms the existence of an arbitrary blacklist of outside commentators who should not be consulted and says there is a climate of fear in the broadcaster’s newsrooms. It is scathing about the arbitrary decision-making, the iron-fist rule and the lack of editorial knowledge of Zikalala.
Perlman is accused of bringing the SABC into disrepute by contradicting its spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago on air about the issue.
”His only ‘offence’ was to publicly contradict an SABC spokesperson who was giving false information about the SABC’s practice of blacklisting political commentators,” Craven said.
He said Cosatu wants an urgent meeting with SABC chief executive Dali Mpofu to discuss the issue.
Commissioners Gilbert Marcus and Zwelakhe Sisulu said that ”it would indeed be abhorrent, and at gross variance with the SABC’s mandate and policies, if practices of the old order were being repeated in the new, with the effect of again disqualifying South Africans from democratic discourse and debate.
”For this reason, we are firmly of the view that this report should be released to the public after consideration by the board.”
The SABC issued a seven-page summary and statement about the commission. — Sapa
(Read the original SABC report – PDF, 200k)