According to the Democratic Alliance (DA), the broadcast by President Thabo Mbeki on 15 South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) radio stations on Wednesday evening confirms for South African listeners at large the conviction that the public broadcaster is a party organ.
”We can assume that the SABC is offering President Thabo Mbeki a platform across all its public radio stations tonight to reach the delegates who will be voting at Polokwane next weekend,” party spokesperson on communications Dene Smuts said.
”Mbeki is not facing the nation but his own party, where the unpopularity that has been palpable in Parliament over many months is clearly mirrored in African National Congress branches and provincial formations.”
Smuts added that a proper journalistic decision based on newsworthiness would at least have placed both contenders for the ANC presidency in the studio for a debate. ”The SABC’s belated announcement that Jacob Zuma would enjoy similar exposure offers his supporters some comfort,” she said.
Outraged
Meanwhile, the South African Communist Party (SACP) said it was outraged at Mbeki’s interview.
”This is nothing but a blatant abuse of the resources of the public broadcaster to, essentially, support a faction in the ANC in the run up to the Polokwane Conference,” it said.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said Mbeki’s interview was a ”shocking example” of the abuse of the public broadcaster and demanded that the broadcast be stopped.
”… or that exactly the same amount of time be devoted, on the same number of radio stations, to an interview with the other nominated candidate for the presidency of the ANC, Jacob Zuma,” said spokesperson Patrick Craven.
Craven said the ”blatant use” of the SABC to advance the cause of one candidate, Mbeki, less than two weeks before the conference was ”utterly deplorable”, and would backfire.
”It will reinforce the view that the state apparatus is becoming too powerful and that the voice of those opposed to the current leadership is being stifled.” — I-Net Bridge, Sapa