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The SABC and nongovernmental organisations are set to spar before the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) over the public broadcaster’s decision to “irregularly and unlawfully revise its editorial policies”.
This follows a decision by media watchdogs Media Monitoring Africa and the SOS Coalition last month to lodge a complaint against the SABC board for approving the public broadcaster’s revised policies without a public participation process.
Commenting about Icasa’s decision to hear the case, the SOS Coalition’s spokesperson Sekoetlana Phamodi said in a statement: “Recognising that we have a prima facie case to make, Icasa has agreed to hear the matter on December 9, where we expect to, once again, [secure] yet another victory for media freedom and the independence of our SABC. Join us at the hearing to see the SABC’s anti-democratic and corrupt management cabal brought to account, demonstrate that we’ve had enough, and demand an SABC that is free from political and commercial interference”.
Other than the fact that the revised policies were seven years behind schedule, Phamodi said the SABC board revised and adopted the new editorial policies under cover of darkness and without undertaking public participation processes as required by section 16 of the Broadcasting Act.
The Act, he said, requires the board to “ensure that there is public participation in the development of the policies, by inviting and considering public comment on such draft policies and by other means”.
The importance of this provision is to ensure that the SABC, being the national public broadcaster, espouses editorial values that reflect the diversity of views, values and voices of our society while advancing the principles of our Constitution as it undertakes its mandate to inform, educate and entertain the people of South Africa, he said.
Phamodi said the effect of the unlawful revision of the broadcaster’s editorial policies resulted in the re-designation of the role of the editor-in-chief from the group CEO to the group chief operations officer. “What would follow from this unlawful re-designation of editorial responsibilities would be Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s issuing of a whole host of unlawful editorial directives. This prevented crucial information of public interest in an election year, keeping South Africans in the dark, and denying them the ability to make informed decisions about who to vote for.”
Icasa’s spokesperson Paseka Maleka said Icasa had not approved the SABC’s editorial policy as alleged. “The SABC submitted the amended editorial policy for Icasa in line with the Broadcasting Act of 1999, which provides as follows: ‘The corporation must notify the authority in writing of any amendments to the policies referred to in paragraph (a) as soon as reasonably possible.” The Broadcasting Act merely requires SABC to notify the authority, he argued. The SABC had not responded by the time of publication.
