It's astounding in its revealing, truthful, straight talk and debating, and with its first episode it instantly became clear why The Big Debate on eNCA (DStv 403) with Siki Mgabadeli was censored and yanked off of the SABC by the famously matricless and acting chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
Three new episodes of the fifth season of The Big Debate was already produced, although none yet shown, when the SABC dumped The Big Debate off the SABC2 schedule.
The SABC gave a convoluted, confusing reason why The Big Debate has been pulled and wasn't willing to elaborate or explain in detail what exactly happened, other than to say that The Big Debate was "incorrectly commissioned and compromised the editorial oversight of the SABC newsroom".
Siki Mgabadeli was simply brilliant in the first episode of The Big Debate on eNCA on Tuesday night, the first of a 10 episode season which centred around the theme of "workers' rights".
Perhaps the SABC pulled The Big Debate off SABC2 because the show dared to mention and use the words "Marikana Massacre" repeatedly during the show and in voice-overs. In November 2012 the SABC banned the words "Marikana Massacre".
Perhaps the SABC pulled The Big Debate off SABC2 because victims and bereaved family members of the Marikana Massacre were bussed in for the first episode of the town hall style debating show, sharing their emotional stories.
Perhaps the SABC pulled The Big Debate off SABC2 because the ruling party, the ANC, received multiple rebukes from a cross-section of debating panel members across the spectrum which included trade union representatives and ordinary South African citizens.
Perhaps the SABC pulled The Big Debate off SABC2 because in the audience spoke a women, Primrose Sonti from the Wonderkop Marikana community with her red EFF party beret.
So emotionally and with so much conviction, she talked about an entire widowed community left without husbands and men and any form of income. (The SABC has allegedly placed a limit on coverage of Julius Malema.)
The Big Debate episode touched on goverment institutions and parastatals who are all a failure.
The Big Debate touched on the high levels of poverty in South Africa, the high jobless rate and unemployment and the people who are suffering because of what happened at the Marikana Massacre.
The Big Debate also gave screen time to Dali Mpofu (the Marikana miners' lawyer and the SABC's former CEO who got R13,4 million in August 2009 when he took the SABC to court following his suspension and subsequent firing.)
It was perhaps too much of a stretch to think that a show such as The Big Debate with critical and thought-provoking debate could still be seen on South Africa's public broadcaster given the level of top-down political interference and ongoing cadre deployment at the SABC.
