After several false starts, the SABC is finally going to broadcast Unauthorised: Thabo Mbeki, the documentary that it canned 16 months ago ‘for being incurably defamatoryâ€.
The screening, which according to the SABC’s online schedule, will be shown on SABC3 on October 3 at 9.30pm, comes after the documentary had been screened as part of several film festivals in the country. These screenings took place soon after a hastily arranged and deliberately low-key flighting of the film in June was cancelled at the last minute, raising speculation about the SABC’s motives for yet another shelving.
Unauthorised: Thabo Mbeki has been edited further to emphasise that ‘there was nothing to the rumour linking Mbeki to Chris Hani’s assassinationâ€, says Ben Cashdan, one the film’s producers. Cashdan adds that he is pleased the screening will finally take place, although he has moved on and is already working on another film, an independently funded documentary on the presidential succession race within the ANC.
In the protracted battle to get the film screened, Broad Daylight, the film’s producers, suggested that the SABC had forfeited its rights to ownership over the film by breaching its contractual obligation to screen it timeously. About the question of ownership of the film now, he states that his company had raised the issue to prevent the film from being buried. ‘They picked a fight with us, we never tried to own the film,†he states. ‘We still believe we have a good argument, but that would have to be tested in court.â€
His new film will feature profiles of the presidential candidates. It aims to provide an in-depth look at how the country will choose its next president. ‘The process of choosing the next president will not be the 2009 elections, it is now,†says Cashdan. ‘I think the public should be in on that process and I don’t buy into the view that the media shouldn’t be involved.†The film is set to be released by November.