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They don't carry pitchforks, but they're coming. Fawly Towers better prepare; my sources are telling me South Africa's TV industry - a vast number of organised groupings from producers to actors and organisations representing basically everyone and all interest groups dealing with the SABC, are once again considering public picketing and massive public protest action at the SABC's headquarters in Auckland Park.
South Africa's TV industry and public interest groups, exasperated, frustrated and incredibly angry at the complete inability of South Africa's struggling public broadcaster to move forward, is now considering public picketing and are ''keen'' to stage a massive round of public protest in front of the SABC. This time I'm told, it will be bigger than ever.
The beleaguered SABC was besieged by public demonstrations on its Auckland Park doorstep in August 2009 - organised by the TV Industry Emergency Coalition (TVIEC), which has since morphed into the Support Public Broadcasting (SOS) Coalition. The highly effective picketing and public demonstration with a massive turnout, characterised by people dressed in black, helped to focus strong public attention on the sorry state of the SABC.
Now interest groups and the local TV industry, of the opinion that things at the broadcaster has hardly improved at all 2 years later than in August 2009 - are once again thinking of public picketing. The SABC is besieged by an unending weekly stream of news relating to management blunders, corruption, ineffective management and oversight, and even more salacious stories of inappropriate executive conduct.
Meanwhile the SABC's chairperson dr Ben Ngubane blatantly decided not to answer or respond to the open letter sent to him on 25 October by the SOS Coalition, asking for explanations as to what is going on at the SABC.
''The SABC is no better off than in 2009 when the industry stood together and said 'enough is enough,'' an insider told me yesterday. ''Producers, writers, actors, viewers, ordinary SABC workers, studios - two years later no-one is served better by a public broadcaster that has made any significant advancement or improvement and that after a government bail out of over a billion rand. It's just completely unacceptable,'' said the source.
Another insider TV with Thinus had contact with yesterday said a lot of people and groups are ''keen to picket outside the SABC''.
Another source said ''the SABC is the public broadcaster, but it's the public that the SABC doesn't seem to want to be accountable to. Since the broadcaster remains deaf and defiant of our voices we will raise our voices.''
