JOHANNESBURG: Demonstrators rallied outside the offices of South Africa’s public broadcaster on Friday to protest against alleged bias and self-censorship in news coverage ahead of key municipal elections.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), which is the primary news source for millions of people, has been accused of banning footage of violent protests, blocking opposition campaign adverts and avoiding criticism of President Jacob Zuma.
The broadcaster’s CEO Jimi Matthews, the 11th in seven years, quit this week saying in his resignation letter that “what is happening at SABC is wrong and I can no longer be part of it.”
In May, the SABC, which has 20 radio stations and three TV stations, stopped its early morning shows from reading out newspaper headlines, many of which are critical of the government.
Several SABC journalists face disciplinary hearings after criticizing its editorial policy, while others have been suspended for allegedly ignoring orders to not cover a protest.
“(The treatment of journalists) is a small symptom of a bigger malaise, which is that we are literally moving into a dictatorship,” said former SABC staffer Tuwani Gumani at the protest in Johannesburg, as another rally was held in Cape Town.
The main target of the protests was SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng, who is widely seen as sympathetic to the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
“People have been saying we are censoring news,” Motsoeneng said this week. “Who is censoring who? Because there is no censorship at the SABC.”
The broadcaster gave guarded coverage of riots last week that rocked townships in the capital Pretoria.
That unrest, sparked by the ANC’s choice of a mayoral election candidate in the capital, left five people dead.
A few days earlier, the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party complained that the public broadcaster refused to air its advert campaign for the August 3 local elections.
“They delayed it for couple of days probably because the ANC advert was not ready, but we threatened to go to court, so now they are broadcasting it,” DA spokeswoman Phumzile van Damme told AFP.
The communications ministry defended SABC, saying: “It is unfortunate that some (people) are looking to score political points.”
The latest Ipsos opinion polls suggest that the ANC could lose three major cities — Pretoria, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth — in the elections.