The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has again changed its mind about screening a controversial documentary on President Thabo Mbeki that was canned about a year ago.
”No, it will not be shown,” said SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago on Thursday after the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) released a statement indicating that the documentary would be screened.
On Thursday, documentary producer Ben Cashden told South African Press Association that the programme would be aired on Sunday at 9pm on SABC 3.
”We really feel no one has the right to announce things for us,” Kganyago said.
Unauthorised: Thabo Mbeki also appears as an entry in the 9pm time slot on SABC’s online schedule, indicating that the programme would be aired.
”That is just provisional booking … it was provisionally put on the schedule, it can change,” said Kganyago.
The initial canning of the documentary caused an outcry with accusations of self-censorship levelled against the national broadcaster.
At the time SABC said the programme was canned because ”internal approval processes were not correctly followed”.
The FXI expressed concern that the reportedly critical tone adopted towards Mbeki had resulted in the withdrawal of the documentary, thus constituting self-censorship.
Kganyago stuck to the broadcaster’s stance, saying that the programme would be scheduled when the SABC was ready to do this.
”From where we sit we are dealing with the producers and when we are ready we will say … At the moment we are not ready to show it,” he said.
He said it is not a matter of whether the documentary would be aired but when.
Cashden, who on Thursday believed his documentary was airing at the weekend, said minor edits had been made, including adding a few sentences.
”SABC’s lawyers informed us five weeks after the doccie’s canning in May 2006 that they felt that viewers might infer that we were trying to insinuate that Mbeki was involved in the Hani assassination,” he said.
”We proposed back in June last year adding a few sentences to stress that the rumour was baseless and that two right-wingers were convicted of Hani’s murder.”
”In any case, we welcome SABC’s decision to show our film. A year late is better than never,” said Cashden.
Kganyago said the broadcaster will ”announce and advertise” the screening of the programme when it was ready to air it. — Sapa