WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-05-08 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
By Deon de Lange
The SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has always been a political football for the ruling party in South Africa.
This was the case during National Party rule. Things haven’t been different under the ANC, which has been in power for the past 14 years.
Ruling parties have always sought to control the national broadcaster because it is a powerful medium – one that can deliver a message to millions of homes across the country.
During election time, it is a medium that can be the difference between winning and losing an election.
In the run-up to the ANC’s 52nd national conference in Polokwane, allegations of bias were levelled against the SABC.
It was accused of giving the then ANC president, Thabo Mbeki, more airtime than his opponent, Jacob Zuma, who went on to become the new president of the ruling party.
The battle for control did not end up with the national broadcaster itself but was extended to the SABC board, which has an oversight role over the SABC.
A few hours after he had lost the ANC presidency, one of the first things Mbeki did, in his capacity as the country’s president, was to approve the new ANC board as recommended by parliament.
This act infuriated ANC members who brought Zuma to power because they felt that some irregularities had occurred which led to the new board being filled with individuals close to Mbeki.
The allegations are that the report from parliament contained extensive reasons why four members on the board could not be appointed. They include businesswoman Gloria Serobe.
The new ANC leadership has been unhappy that, despite objections from parliament, Mbeki used his powers and went ahead with appointing the disputed four.
The seeds for bad blood between MPs in parliament’s portfolio committee on communications were thus planted. As all of this happened, a report emerged, containing views long held by some members of the board, that they were unhappy with SABC group CEO Dali Mpofu’s management.
There is no doubt that the new ANC leadership have mobilised their colleagues in parliament to proceed in a manner that would send a clear message that they are not happy with the new SABC board.
ANC MPs treated the board with disdain and made it clear that they had no confidence in it. The ANC’s national working committee “concurred” with these MPs this week.
At that meeting, differences between Mpofu and the board also came to the fore. Mpofu told MPs that he had not received the leaked memorandum that the board claimed to have sent to him.
These developments came on the back of reports that Mpofu had, during the ANC conference, threatened to resign if Zuma won.
Mpofu denied the reports.
The Star understands that Mpofu then actively tried to prove to all and sundry that he was a supporter of Zuma.
Enter one Hlaudi Motsoeneng, an SABC producer based in Bloemfontein.
Motsoeneng was fired last year after being found guilty of gross misconduct. He was alleged to have hired people and gave them salary increases without following due process.
Sources have told The Star that Mpofu received an order from a cabinet minister with strong ties in the Free State to rehire Motsoeneng. He then asked head of news Snuki Zikalala to do the same. Zikalala, it was confirmed to The Star, flatly refused.
On Tuesday, a high-level meeting – attended by Mpofu, Zikalala and three other executives – was held at the SABC to discuss this issue.
It is at this meeting that Mpofu accused Zikalala of leaking confidential information to an outside party.
The documents he referred to were not the SABC board memorandum, as reported, but internal documents that detailed the labour dispute between Motsoeneng and the SABC.
Our sources have revealed that Zikalala shared the documents with a senior member of the ANC. This was done to prove that he had reasons why he could not rehire Motsoeneng.
In providing this explanation to his boss, Zikalala admitted to sharing confidential company documents with an outside party.
This presented Mpofu, who did not get along well with Zikalala, with a golden opportunity to strike. At 1pm on Tuesday, Zikalala was informed that he had been suspended, while an investigation got under way.
The Star understands that Mpofu’s strike against Zikalala was pre-emptive because he had got wind that the board, clearly unhappy with him, planned to suspend him and appoint Zikalala as the acting CEO.
At 6am on Wednesday, SABC TV announced that they would broadcast an interview with Mpofu, who was going to explain to viewers why he had suspended Zikalala.
Thirty minutes later, the presenter announced that Mpofu would not make it to the studio as he himself had been suspended by the board. The development was the climax of 17 hours of high drama which left the biggest news organisation in the country without any leadership.
Hours after Mpofu was suspended, two urgent and concurrent meetings were held. In the one meeting was the SABC group executive, which met and, according to sources, took a decision to support Mpofu in his hour of darkness. The move would place a huge wall of division between the executive and the board.
At the second meeting, the board met and deliberated furiously for several hours to decide on a new leadership for the corporation.
In the absence of a natural successor to Mpofu – he had not replaced the chief operating officer after Solly Mokoetle left – the board decided that commercial executive Gabs Mampone should hold the fort.
The appointment is fraught with ethical difficulties because, as an advertising executive, Mampone would be expected also to act as group editor-in-chief.
It is expected that veteran journalist Amrit Manga, who effectively was Zikalala’s deputy, would become the acting head of news.
What could work against Manga is that he is not popular at the SABC newsroom and might be overlooked for either Mapula Mbhalati, head of radio news, or Sol Pelle, head of SABC Africa.
Drama is not new at the “new” SABC.
The theatrics gained momentum when Peter Matlare joined the SABC as group CEO. The corporation was restructured in a way that left Zikalala out in the cold. He left for a job in government.
However, Zikalala, with powerful connections to the ANC, was brought back by Mpofu, the man with whom he has fallen out.
This isn’t the first time Mpofu has acted against Zikalala. He fingered Zikalala for a report which claimed that Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka had been booed by a crowd in KwaZulu Natal.
He was also blamed for blacklisting some commentators from the airwaves.
Zikalala is again out in the cold and so is Mpofu.
The sad reality is that this powerful medium continues to be a political football.
The new ANC leadership is set to work hard to influence the appointment of a board they like, a new CEO that can listen to them and a new head of news who can take instructions.