The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) demanded transparency and accountability from the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in a march to its offices in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
”The current struggles and campaigns for social services that are waged by the working class and the poor have received little or no coverage from the broadcaster,” complained FXI spokesperson Vumile Velaphi.
While the SABC is supposed to report fairly, in a balanced way and free of prejudice, it seems to have become a ”fully fledged mouthpiece of the government”, he said.
The march followed a similar protest in November to which there has not yet been any response, Velaphi claimed.
In a memorandum of grievances, the protesters complained that the public broadcaster is moving towards censorship — evident from the finding that it had blacklisted certain political analysts.
That a number of journalists had recently resigned — including veteran presenter John Perlman — pointed to victimisation.
The FXI will not rest until the SABC board explains this exodus, said Velaphi.
It also wants answers about a decision to halt the screening of a documentary on President Thabo Mbeki last year.
SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago claimed the protesters had not had permission to march to the SABC, and had not identified themselves as FXI members.
”We are currently having meetings with the FXI to deal with its complaints, so I don’t think they would be involved in protests while we are discussing the issues,” he said.
Kganyago claimed the demonstrators had not raised any issues with the SABC on Tuesday, instead just ”singing and throwing insults at our employees, me included”. — Sapa