EFF criticises eNCA for ‘racist treatment of African journalist’

The EFF has strongly condemned 24-hour television news broadcaster eNCA for forcing out political journalist Samkele Maseko and placing Khayelihle Khumalo on suspension for tweeting about the party’s second national people’s assembly from his personal account.

In a statement released by the EFF on Thursday, party spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said the action by eNCA executives was a “sign of total deterioration of leadership, principles and ethics” within the broadcaster.

He accused the eNCA of having a personal vendetta against the EFF.

“In fact, when it comes to the EFF, the institution has become personal,” Ndlozi said.

Maseko was unceremoniously dismissed on Tuesday, after the senior political journalist went against a stance that was taken by the broadcaster to pull out of the EFF’s elective conference over the weekend. Maseko had initially left the national people’s assembly with staff from the eNCA and later returned to the conference in his own capacity, while Khumalo tweeted about the proceedings after the directive was given.

This, according to a tweet by Maseko, subsequently led to him being escorted out of the premises of the broadcaster by eNCA news chief Kanthan Pillay on Tuesday.

Taking to Twitter, Maseko described the process as “heartless and unethical”.

Pillay described journalists leaving the eNCA for other broadcasters as “rats” finally showing their colours.

This seemingly enraged Maseko, who is understood to be heading to the SABC.

In a heated tweet Maseko said: “Do [you] want me to speak about how you threw me out of the eNCA building like a dog who had stolen something? How you came to my desk and said I should pack my s#*t and follow you to HR? You are heartless and unethical. Denying [someone] a chance to serve a notice period”.

Maseko also claimed that the eNCA was censoring journalists in its newsroom, alleging that Pillay, who once ventured into politics (and failed) as the leader of the Capitalist Party of SA, was behind the censorship.

“Do you want me to speak about how you instructed that ANC MP Bongani [Bongo] be [censored] by removing all the allegations he made [against Public Enterprises] Minister Pravin Gordhan? What happened to the simple journalism principle of two sides to a story? Getting both parties to answer for themselves?” he asked.

The EFF has come out in solidarity with Maseko and Khumalo, saying it “condemns the eNCA for its racist treatment of African journalists. In a tweet, one of its managers called Maseko a rat on social media, after firing him. We also have reliable information that the eNCA placed Khumalo under suspension for tweeting about the national people’s assembly from his personal account,” said Ndlozi.

Read: We’re not censoring journalists, we don’t have the capacity for all of them – EFF

The red berets allege that “the eNCA was always looking for a way to avoid covering the [national people’s assembly]”.

The party’s reason being that “when all other broadcasters built their sets on site, the eNCA never built a set or brought any technical equipment”.

Ndlozi added that the eNCA’s “withdrawal must be seen for what it truly represents, an attempt to silence the EFF”.

He urged South Africans to “unite in totally boycotting the eNCA, both from watching it and attending to its news requests and events. No one must call an African child a rat in our country and it just becomes business as usual.”

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