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/ 26 September 2007

TAC plans to block Qunta’s SABC appointment

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has threatened to take court action if lawyer Christine Qunta is reappointed to the board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). TAC leader Zachie Achmat said Qunta’s involvement in a company selling untested medicines purporting to cure HIV/Aids disqualified her from occupying public office.

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/ 25 September 2007

Propaganda as journalism?

”In the light of the brouhaha about the nominations to the South African Broadcasting Corporation board, I’d like to ask a question: Are some South Africans eligible to nominate and be nominated to lead public institutions while others should rather be ignored?” writes Prince Mashele.

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/ 21 September 2007

Zille warns of slide towards Animal Farm state

The African National Congress is intent on turning South Africa into an authoritarian state, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille warned on Friday. ”The evidence is now overwhelming: the ruling party is increasingly authoritarian, intolerant of criticism and hostile to the principles of an open society,” she said.

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/ 19 September 2007

Call to stop ‘meaningless journalism’

"Let’s stop meaningless journalism." That was the cry from new South African press ombudsman Joe Nong Thloloe at a forum, themed Leading Conversations, held on Tuesday. Thloloe, a former South African Broadcasting Corporation and e.tv news editor-in-chief, was appointed to the position at the launch of the new Press Council of South Africa on Friday August 3.

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/ 19 September 2007

Sanef, SABC meet to discuss impasse

Delegations from the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) met in Johannesburg on Monday. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the contents of a letter SABC group CEO Dali Mpofu sent to Sanef on August 31, announcing that the broadcaster had broken ties with the editors’ forum.

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/ 19 September 2007

SA artists vent fury over airplay payola

Some of South Africa’s most famous artists, including singer Johnny Clegg, have accused the country’s public broadcaster of demanding bribes if they want to be heard on air. ”It’s a very crazy situation … that we local musicians have to pay to get airplay on radio stations,” said Clegg, who is nicknamed the White Zulu.

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/ 18 September 2007

SABC profits down

The South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) profits have dropped by R200-million in the past financial year, the public broadcaster reported on Tuesday. The decrease was from R382-million in the 2005/06 financial year to R182-million in the past year.

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/ 17 September 2007

ANC denies interfering in SABC board selection

The African National Congress (ANC) on Monday dismissed as ”mischievous and fanciful” suggestions that it interfered in the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board-selection process. The Sunday Times reported that ANC headquarters had ordered the party’s MPs to accept a list of new SABC board appointees.

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/ 16 September 2007

Sexwale warns against ANC infighting

Businessman Tokyo Sexwale has reiterated that infighting within the African National Congress (ANC) would destroy the party, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Sunday. Sexwale was addressing the Umkhonto weSizwe Veterans’ Association in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.

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/ 12 September 2007

Bridge-building task for SABC’s new board

There is background to why Dali Mpofu, supremo at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), announced last week that the broadcaster was severing ties with the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef). On the SABC side, the broadcaster’s leadership sees itself as a ”responsible” player in nation-building and promoting the ”national interest”.

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/ 11 September 2007

Committee finalises SABC board nominees

The National Assembly’s communications committee on Tuesday recommended 12 names for the new South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board, including six current board members. The six are Alison Gilwald, Andile Mbeki, Fadila Lagadien, Khanyisile Mkhonza, Christine Qunta and Ashwin Trikamjee.

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/ 9 September 2007

Zuma: Umshini Wami part of SA history

African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma questioned the ”Americanisation” of culture in South Africa, criticising television images of sex and violence during a speech in Johannesburg on Sunday. ”There’s more violence on the TV … there’s more open sex on TV. What education are you giving to us? Is that part of our culture?”

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/ 9 September 2007

Vavi: SABC shows signs of becoming state broadcaster

Congress of South African Trade Unions secretary general Zwelenzima Vavi on Saturday warned that the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) was ”showing clear signs” of becoming a broadcaster of the state. ”Increasingly our government and the SABC talk about controlling and limiting what the public broadcaster can or should convey to our people,” he said.

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/ 8 September 2007

Tourists caught photographing reed dance

Two foreign tourists were arrested and later released on warning for taking photographs without approval at the Zulu royal reed dance at kwaNongoma in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reports. Organisers said that a man and a woman had failed to obey rules made to protect the participants and retain the dignity of the ceremony.

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/ 7 September 2007

Enemies of the people?

COUNTERPOINT: Are black editors savages incapable of comprehending the intricacies of ”foreign” values such as press freedom? Thabo Leshilo reacts to Dali Mpofu’s withdrawal of the South African Broadcasting Corporation from the South African National Editors’ Forum.

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/ 6 September 2007

Boks get some Madiba magic

Former South African president Nelson Mandela met the Springboks in Paris on Thursday, his office announced. ”Mr Mandela wished the Springboks well after receiving a Springbok jersey from the team,” said Mandela’s spokesperson, Zelda la Grange, in a statement.

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/ 5 September 2007

SABC slammed over Sanef withdrawal

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) had demonstrated nothing but arrogance in pulling out of the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) over reports about Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, said the Media Institute of Southern Africa on Wednesday.

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/ 5 September 2007

Court finds Staggie not guilty

Reformed Hard Livings gang leader Rashied Staggie was on Wednesday found not guilty of the revenge murder of taxi driver Mogamat Ryklief. Staggie appeared in the Cape High Court before Judge Nathan Erasmus, who labelled the only state witness, Donavan Richards, as a ”good liar who manipulated words to suit himself”.

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/ 5 September 2007

SABC under fire after breaking ranks

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has been accused of systematic pro-government bias after taking a different stance from most fellow journalists in coverage of the controversial health minister. Allegations against the SABC mounted after its executive chief, Dali Mpofu, sent a resignation letter to the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef).

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/ 4 September 2007

Time for parents to lead their children

The matric exam season is upon us. And once again it is the fate of black children that hangs precariously in the balance; it is they who will be hardest hit by the interruption in classes earlier this year during the public-service strike. More worrying, however, is the silence of their parents on the matters that affect their children.

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/ 4 September 2007

Cosatu, Lekota not singing from same hymn sheet

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the Young Communists League took issue on Tuesday with African National Congress national chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota over his remarks about those singing the freedom song, Umshini Wami. ”We respect comrade Lekota’s views but we disagree with them strongly,” Cosatu said in a statement.

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/ 3 September 2007

Sanco backs SABC withdrawal from Sanef

The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) on Monday commended the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) for its ”brave and patriotic decision” to break ties with the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef). The SABC broke ranks with the forum in protest over its stance on Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.