Please find attached a soundbite by the DA Shadow Minister of Communications, Phumzile Van Damme MP.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has received confirmation from the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) that they have acceded to our request that a Tribunal be instituted to adjudicate the DA’s complaint against the SABC into the public broadcaster airing a packaged video of the ANC President.
The DA is of the view that the SABC contravened Section 13(1) of the BCCSA Code of Conduct when it accepted a packaged video from the ANC, interrupted normal programming to air the recording, and then denied opposition parties the opportunity to do the same.
Given the biased manner in which the SABC has acted, the DA is of the view that only a Tribunal will be suitable to deal with this matter.
The Tribunal will proceed on Wednesday, 5 September 2018, at 9:30 AM. The proceedings will take place at the BCCSA/NAB Boardroom at the Burnside Island Office Park, Block No 8, 410 Jan Smuts Avenue, Craighall.
The Tribunal will be open to the public and representatives from both the DA and the public broadcaster will be provided with an opportunity to make submissions. The DA looks forward to meeting the SABC at the Tribunal as this is indeed an unprecedented moment in the broadcaster’s history.
It would seem as though the Ramaphosa administration is as determined as the Zuma administration to turn the SABC into its mouthpiece. The public broadcaster must at all times adhere to its mandate of informing the public without fear or favour.