/ 11 June 2008

Coalition to address SABC problems

A number of civil-society organisations will form a coalition to address the problems that have beset the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), a joint statement issued on Wednesday said.

This follows a meeting convened by the Media Monitoring Project and the Open Society Foundation on Tuesday to deal with ”the current crisis at the SABC”.

The crisis includes the suspension and court-ordered reinstatement of group CEO Dali Mpofu, the suspension and forthcoming conciliation and mediation hearing of suspended group head of news Snuki Zikalala and disputes over the appointment of the current board.

”The main objective of public broadcasting is to serve the public and therefore we want to reclaim our public broadcaster, the SABC, for the public,” the statement said.

The organisations resolved to form a coalition to campaign for the strengthening of public broadcasting. The coalition is to be made up of a range of civil society, media groups, unions and the public to address the mid- and long-term issues.

Measures will include: identifying options to deal with the crises affecting SABC management, its board and the parliamentary portfolio committee on communication; following up on the blacklisting complaint lodged by the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa to ensure compliance by the SABC of its charter and licence conditions; drafting recommendations on an SABC Act, including ownership structure, character and appointment of the board, executive management, funding and charter; and to calling upon the communications committee to ”exercise its constitutionally mandated oversight role effectively”.

A working committee has been established to take this process forward.

Others present at Tuesday’s meeting were: the FXI, the Media Institute of Southern Africa, the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism, the Black Film Makers’ Network, Wits University’s Journalism and Media Studies departments, the University of Pretoria’s Law Department, the National Consumer Forum, the Southern African
Litigation Centre, Sangonet, Oxfam, Bemawu, the Interpress Service, MCM Digital Media and the Afrimap project.

The ”blacklisting” report refers to a period when the broadcaster decided not to use certain political commentators. — Sapa