President Kgalema Motlanthe has sent the contentious Broadcasting Amendment Bill back to the National Assembly unsigned.
Motlanthe has referred the Bill back to the Assembly for reconsideration because he has reservations about the Bill’s constitutionality, his office said in a statement on Monday.
The Bill has raised the ire of opposition parties, who accuse the African National Congress of wanting to use it simply to get rid of the current South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board.
The Bill was approved by the Assembly in November last year, but a number of parties, including the Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front Plus, wrote to Motlanthe asking him not to sign the Bill on constitutional grounds.
The Bill makes it possible for Parliament to fire either individuals on the SABC board or the board as a whole.
The opposition says the proposed dissolution of the SABC board without due inquiry offends against the Constitution’s section 33 right to fair administrative action.
In addition, the proposed dissolution is destructive of security of tenure, without which the board does not enjoy the independence that enables it to protect its editorial divisions in exercising the constitutional guarantee of free speech and media freedom. — Sapa