There was much ado this week over a dress. The South African Broadcasting Corporation, it seems, wanted a red, ankle-length creation. The dressmakers, however, delivered a black mini, and the SABC couldn’t go to the ball any more.
That’s the analogy used by SABC big wig Mvuso Mbebe at the Mail & Guardian‘s Critical Thinking Forum in Johannesburg, where the controversial documentary Unauthorised: Thabo Mbeki was screened and discussed — this after the public broadcaster had tried obtaining two interdicts to stop the screening.
Mbebe argued at length about the editorial, legal and ownership concerns the SABC had over the documentary. The dress analogy related to the SABC not receiving the film on Mbeki that it had wanted, and which it then could not screen, according to Mbebe. The film’s producers, Ben Cashden and Redi Direko, put up convincing opposition that cast doubts on many of Mbebe’s claims.
The audience was underwhelmed by the documentary itself, with many saying that little in it is new, and some even calling it a shoddy production. A show of hands proved almost all audience members thought it should be shown in its original format on TV, although another panellist, Mbeki author Ronald Suresh Roberts, was quick to point out that editorial decisions aren’t made by a show of hands.
Debate raged about copyright, defamation, quality, freedom of speech, editing and production. But one aspect of the debate was clear: the somewhat beleaguered Mbebe was the public face of an embarrassed SABC. It already appeared something was amiss when it first pulled the Mbeki documentary off its schedules (not long after the commentator blacklist scandal). Then, months of argument, followed by this week’s flurry of legal action to prevent the film being shown.
Joe Soap and his fellow members of the public aren’t interested in convoluted arguments over copyright and ethical debates over whether a sitting president can be defamed. Those conversations are important, no doubt, but the SABC has sadly lost too much ground on this issue still to be taken seriously.
| FULL SPEED AHEAD |
NOT SO FAST |
Nelson Mandela
He’s turned 89, and he used the occasion to launch his fellow elder statesmen on a new venture to reduce conflict and despair. He may have “stepped down” from his public duties, but there’s no stopping our Madiba. Here’s to many more birthdays. |
 SABC
The public broadcaster may believe it is doing the right thing, but it was rather quick on the trigger finger this week when it fired off two interdict applications to prevent the Unauthorised: Thabo Mbeki documentary being screened by the Mail & Guardian. The documentary turned out to be not all that interesting, as many of the more than 200 viewers pointed out, and the SABC looks the worst for it. |
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