The last AM Live radio show to be hosted by John Perlman will be on Friday, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) said on Thursday. ”Friday is the last day,” said spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago.
The popular broadcaster resigned in January after nine years of presenting the morning current-affairs programme. An announcement on Perlman’s replacement is expected before the weekend, Kganyago said.
Media reports alleged that Perlman’s resignation was linked to the controversy over the blacklisting of certain commentators from being interviewed on the SABC.
The Freedom of Expression Institute recently laid a complaint about the SABC, related to the alleged blacklisting, with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).
‘We salute you, John Perlman’
Meanwhile, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said it would place a full-page advert in the Mail & Guardian on Friday paying tribute to Perlman.
”We pay tribute to him as an excellent and patriotic journalist,” it said in a statement.
In the 263-word advert, Cosatu describes Perlman as a committed and skilled journalist with great integrity.
No broadcaster can facilitate critical debate without such journalists as Perlman, Cosatu said. ”For more than a decade, Perlman has led the pack as a feisty, thoughtful and deeply committed voice. He has helped ensure the public broadcaster has offered a platform for ordinary people to debate many diverse issues in the public interest.”
The advert says Perlman’s departure is an enormous loss for everyone interested in current affairs and for anyone with an ear for entertaining and intelligent journalism. ”He has made us all more respectful of the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
”We salute you, John Perlman, and we thank you for the many hours of riveting radio you have brought us.”
Perlman is the latest in a long list of journalists who have left the SABC. He resigned last month, shortly after the news that Nikiwe Bikitsha, his co-presenter on SAfm’s Morning Live, was leaving the public broadcaster.
SABC bosses did not include him in a decision about who his new co-presenter would be, an insider told the Mail & Guardian.
Bikitsha announced her departure and Perlman expected to be included in auditions for her successor as the show is broadcast as a double-header and its success depends on a rapport between the two presenters. Perlman had been included in deliberations about previous appointments, but was excluded this time.
Perlman’s resignation came just three months after a damning commission of inquiry found that there was a practice of blacklisting commentators at the SABC. The inquiry was prompted by Perlman’s on-air admission that such a ”blacklist” existed.
On Wednesday, Cosatu called on organisations and individuals who would like their names to appear on the list of names in the advert to contact the federation. It said contributions would be welcome, although it had already collected enough money to pay for the advert. — Sapa