Everything started in November 2006 when the FXI and a group of community-based organisations that form part of the Communication Rights’ Campaign (African churches, traditional healers, service delivery lobby groups and various residents’ associations) marched to the SABC in support of a demand for its ‘public control’.
“We gave them an ultimatum until the end of 2006 to respond to all our demands, which included the end to victimisation of progressive journalists and the censorship programme of the SABC, and the implementation of the recommendations of Sisulu Commission of inquiry,” Tamela said.
“We also wanted, among others, the airing of Thabo Mbeki documentary, which for some strange reasons, was pulled off the air at the last minute.”
But until now, the SABC refuses to budge, simply ignoring their demands and concerns – a situation that has prompted many observers to believe that the FXI might be fighting a losing battle.
But Tamela is adamant the struggle will not end until victory is certain. “It is going to be a long confrontation,” he told Bizcommunity.com this week. “We will be dancing there at least two to three times per week. We can do it at any moment. It is guaranteed in the Constitution.
“The struggle for the independence of the SABC should not only be legal, but political as well because it is a contested terrain. It is a pity the public broadcaster is being run like an army camp and has become the government’s conveyor belt.”
SABC’s Charlotte Mampane, who spoke to picketers on Tuesday, 6 February 2007, on behalf of Group CEO Dali Mpofu, promised – again – to look at ways of establishing a platform to engage all parties.
According to insiders, there is a huge climate of discomfort, dissatisfaction and unhappiness in the Auckland Park newsrooms, where the staff is not free to express themselves in the spirit of journalistic principles, but follow certain well-established guidelines and norms or be shown the door.
Analysts believe that the successive resignation of talented and free-thinking journalists Nikiwe Bikitsha – who is heading for the shores of CNBC – and John Perlman is a sign that the public broadcaster could be sailing into troubled waters.
Furthermore, the fact that many SABC staffers have been calling Bizcommunity.com non-stop to ask for CNBC’s contact details shows that many more want to get out of the Auckland Park parastatal.
Watch this space!
