SABC Mbeki ban?

Photo credit: African national Congress

Has the SABC banned radio and television coverage of former president Thabo Mbeki? Justice Malala raised alarm when he alleged that “Interviews with former president Thabo Mbeki and items about him have been banned on all SABC radio stations and television channels.” Malala followed this up with a statement headlined “the SABC is not a political tool” on 19 July saying that “all South Africans who love this country should march on the South African Broadcasting Corporation and demand that former president Thabo Mbeki be put on air. We should not do it because we love Mbeki. We should do it because we love our independent institutions and we want them to continue to serve us, the public, and not narrow political interests”

The SABC issued a statement saying that it “rejects with the contempt it deserves the article ‘SABC news boss Molefe bans Mbeki” adding that the article was “totally false, malicious, intended to mislead and without base.”

The ANC issued a statement saying that “The ANC will never attempt to influence the editorial decisions of the public broadcaster and never have such an intention. We hold a view that every citizen, rich or poor, black or white, male or female, should have a right to access the public broadcaster, including Cde Thabo Mbeki. The ANC will never scoop low to undermine the very democratic values that many of our members and our leaders died fighting for, including the independence of the media and the public broadcaster.”

Other organisations including COSATU, COPE, and the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) also voiced their criticisms over the alleged ban.

Banning Mbeki, or any other person of influence from the airwaves not only erodes our democracy and gives lie to the Constitution, it also leaves us with a gap in the archive and a serious mistrust for the integrity of the historical records of the nation’s public broadcaster.

SABC news boss Molefe bans Mbeki. Sunday Times 9 July 2010
The SABC is not a political tool. The Times 18 July 2010
Mbeki was not banned from SABC - ANC Politicsweb 19 July 2010
FXI, Cosatu slam Mbeki ban The Citizen, 15 July 2010
COPE seeks answers on alleged Mbeki banI OL, 12 July 2010

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