Those who have met or even worked with SABC’s head of news, Snuki Zikalala, describe him as reasonably friendly, intelligent, passionate, shrewd, tenacious, and above all, stubborn.
What drives him has been the source of many media debates and dinner table discussions since his appointment, or perceived deployment, to the SABC in April 2004.
A multiple award-winning investigative labour reporter with more than 25 years’ experience, Zikalala’s alignment to the African National Congress (ANC) is well-documented.
He is a staunch member of the ruling party and a former commander in its now defunct military wing, uMkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation).
He worked for the Labour Bulletin newspaper upon his return from exile in the 1990s before joining the SABC.
Zikalala left the broadcaster after a fierce clash with former group chief executive Peter Matlare and joined the labour department as its spokesman. He was brought back to the SABC in 2004, and Matlare resigned soon afterwards.
There has been concern that his ANC ties will result in the SABC turning into a government pawn, if that has not happened already.
“Just because I am black and a member of the ANC, I cannot be objective and independent – it’s not true,” he told Beeld newspaper in 2004 shortly after his appointment.
“As a journalist, I am going to expose all forms of corruption in government and the private sector. Seventy percent of the people of this country have voted for the ANC. I lost my youth fighting for this country. Why would I allow this organisation to disappoint so many people who voted for it?” he was quoted as saying in City Press the same year.
Zikalala recently came under the spotlight after an inquiry into an alleged blacklist of political commentators found him guilty of banning certain commentators.
The commission was headed by former SABC boss Zwelakhe Sisulu and assisted by advocate Gilbert Marcus.
Initially, the SABC denied the allegations but was forced to commission a probe following a heated on-air interview between SAfm talk show host John Perlman and the broadcaster’s spin doctor Kaizer Kganyago, in which the former confirmed the blacklist.
This was not the first time the issue was raised. In April 2005, former head of news Pippa Green wrote to Zikalala saying she was “extremely perturbed” by the instructions from him not to use certain commentators.
“It would be morally wrong, professionally wrong, and ethically wrong, and violate not only our editorial code but the spirit of our Constitution. I would be grateful if you could clarify this,” she wrote.
Zikalala responded to the letter with a single sentence: “I don’t think that I will have the time and energy to be involved in such arguments.”
During the hearings, Zikalala was asked to explain his reaction to Green.
“Why should I waste my time to sit down and respond to each and every sentence to what she said? She knew what my views were and I sat with her and discussed them and debated them and what else must I do. So I said, why should I get involved in this matter,” he told the commission of inquiry.
The Sisulu report, while confirming that the individuals mentioned in Green’s letter were actually blacklisted, described Zikalala’s management style as “a downward micro-management which can only impact negatively on morale, initiative and an appropriate sense of ownership by executive producers, producers and presenters.”
The 79-page document went on to suggest that “the SABC board should take close cognisance of the concerns about the particular management style of Dr Zikalala as outlined in this report, particularly regarding problems of communication and the inappropriately narrow interpretation of the SABC’s mandate.”
Political analyst, professor Sipho Seepe, says Zikalala is known to “work out” those who dare to oppose him.
“Snuki is a reflection of exactly what is wrong within the ANC. His intolerance of different views has become the prevailing culture within the organisation since post 1994,” says Seepe.
“It mainly has to do with the training and tradition from the ANC. It’s the military way of thinking and the language of everyone who has been deployed – identify the enemy and defeat it.”
Seepe, together with author and journalist William Gumede, Business Day political editor and former SABC radio producer Karima Brown, analyst Aubrey Matshiqi, and freelance journalist in the Middle East Paula Slier, was on the SABC’s blacklist.
Rhodes University’s head of journalism and media studies, Professor Guy Berger, says coverage of Zikalala, even prior to the blacklisting events, has been shaped by stereotyped perceptions of his politics and unwarranted scorn about his academic background.
“It is classic South African arrogance to denigrate him because he studied in Bulgaria. Many of our universities don’t compare to eastern European higher education,” he points out. Zikalala holds an MA and PhD, both in journalism, from Sofia University in Bulgaria.
Business Day columnist Professor Anton Harber agrees, adding that some of the coverage on the news commissar has been unfair, citing the “below-the-belt” comments about where he got his doctorate.
“As a whole, however, I think the Sisulu report makes it clear that much of what is said about him allowing narrow party loyalties to dictate his news judgements, and his top-down management style, is valid.”
Berger, who was an advisor to the Sisulu Commission, says it is Zikalala’s personal history that explains his character.
“He had to flee South Africa to avoid long-term imprisonment under apartheid. Then he had to learn a new language (Bulgarian) and study in it in a country where there was also quite bad racism.
“He also has experience of authoritarian socialism which he did not like. Of course, these all affect a person. This history explains much about his passion, but it also shows the simplicity of reading him as a doctrinaire and wholly authoritarian Stalinist taking orders from the Presidency.”
But that’s exactly what he is, argues Seepe.
“But on the other hand, I think he’s being singled out too much and being made into a scapegoat,” he says.
“Some of us have worked at newspapers where they prefer using certain commentators over others, because what they have to say is in line with the thinking they have become associated with.
“I find the problem here is the general pretence where media editors make out as if they don’t do the same thing Snuki does. Maybe what Snuki lacks is the finesse to go about it,” says Seepe.
Yet despite the negative perception that the media has about Zikalala and the findings of the report, many doubt he will be fired. Zikalala is said to enjoy massive support from the SABC board.
Although it is an enormous problem for the public broadcaster to have tried to exclude some voices, Zikalala has nevertheless done good work such as getting reporters out of the office and into the field, Berger points out.
“He has also pushed for bureaux outside Africa,” he says. “He is concerned to see journalism that reflects race and class transformation, and that helps address poverty.”
But is he the right man for the job?
“His management style could improve – and the same applies to his horizons of the role of SABC, especially at a time when there are so many debates within and around ANC and government. Then I think he would be doing a good job,” offers Berger.
Seepe says even if the SABC sent Zikalala packing, his management style is just the tip of the iceberg in an organisation governed by predominantly ANC members.
“They would probably get another Snuki. The SABC board, because of its political appointments, is where we need to start.”
Berger says one of the challenges Zikalala faces at the broadcaster is focusing more on strategic, than operational, issues.
“The big picture needs to be addressed: training, attitude, public service. There are people who do not think or act like journalists, but like teachers or civil servants. They want to work nine-to-five jobs.
“There are also people who do not understand that the SABC should be doing something different to other media. For example, they see only a watchdog role, and not an educational role.”
So, is the SABC news coverage better now than it was 12 years ago?
“Of course the news today is far more representative of SA majority voices than it was before democracy. That is a great improvement. But there are still too many government voices at the expense of civil society or ordinary voice,” Berger concludes.
At the time of going to print, the SABC had not answered several requests for an interview with Zikalala.