It’s not only the fate of political parties to be decided in the 2009 poll. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is also, willy-nilly, putting its reputation on the line for a ”thumbs up” or ”thumbs down”.
If the corporation plays its cards autonomously and assertively, it could make major strides in its credibility as a public broadcaster.
The alternative is it bending under political pressure, and then becoming a deployed tool of the grouping that’s now hegemonic in the African National Congress (ANC).
Nearly five years ago, the SABC’s own Editorial Policies presciently noted that broadcasting during elections was a testing time:
- There is close scrutiny of the coverage;
- Staff come under pressure from parties.
What makes the 2009 poll a watershed for SABC’s future is the huge contestation taking place around election coverage.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa accuses the SABC of favouring the ANC. Some ANC people have reportedly told the broadcaster to cut back coverage of President Kgalema Motlanthe and to expand positive reportage of party leader Jacob Zuma.
Generally, the ANC and its partners claim that the corporation is biased towards the Congress of the People (Cope). Then again, some SABC news bulletins have consistently branded the new party with the negative label of being a ”breakaway splinter group”.
The SABC, it seems, is not pleasing the politicians. That’s not necessarily bad given that the election, ultimately, belongs to the people — in whose service the public broadcaster really needs to function.
But it’s nevertheless very hard for the broadcaster to escape being kicked around like a political football, especially by the most powerful party.
In Parliament, the ANC majority has now passed a legal amendment that empowers MPs to instruct the state president to fire the SABC board. That overturns the existing set-up whereby Parliament proposes and the executive disposes.
The reason for the amendment comes from the period when Thabo Mbeki was still president, and he ignored a motion of no confidence in the board passed by ANC MPs in the parliamentary portfolio committee on communications.
Ironically, the same committee itself had earlier recommended the very incumbents whom they subsequently wanted ousted.
The ANC MPs are paying the price of their own mistake last year. Back then, after conducting public interviews with prospective board members, they sent the list of their proposed names to party headquarters.
At the time, Smuts Ngonyama, then a leading Mbeki man, directed that four of the recommendees be changed.
This history cropped up in a brief exchange that I had with this political ”fixer” last week. My pitch was that the subservient relationship between ANC MPs and the party HQ over the board appointments made a mockery of the integrity of the parliamentary process.
His response, now as a member of Cope, was that ”with hindsight”, the observation was probably correct.
This background partly explains the intense hatred of the ANC MPs for what they still see as a pro-Mbeki board (which they brought upon themselves by inviting the original intervention by party HQ).
With the formation of Cope, ANC annoyance has grown. They now believe SABC is leaning towards a revived Mbeki-ite force that is now outside ANC discipline.
However, their wish to change this may not succeed before the elections. Due process will have to be followed if the board is to go. An investigation would need to establish governance failures; and the findings would need to stand up to a court challenge by board members.
In the meantime, the news people in the SABC are working to counter perceptions of them being politically partisan. There have been several meetings with political parties. A special complaints hotline is being set up to deal with party complaints as they emerge. Hopefully, it will handle complaints from the public as well.
Plans are also being drawn up to deflate some of the current political jockeying and bullying. Thus, in a ”promise” to the public, SABC says it will cover as many election stories, in as many languages, as possible, and with numerous perspectives being reflected.
In addition, the corporation says it will broadcast about 100 town-hall debate meetings across the country. SABC news planners also say that although the bigger and more active parties will earn most of the coverage, those contestants who are not making the news will still get some representation.
Meanwhile, the parliamentary amendment Bill provides for MPs to appoint a new interim SABC board if the existing one is fired. But there is no provision for transparent nominations or public interviews of candidates for this temporary structure. It means that the envisaged interim body is clearly open to political abuse.
On the other hand, if the SABC can rise to the challenge of covering the election to public acclaim, that would help consolidate its autonomy in general.
It’s what South Africa needs.