Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political party warned the SABC's famously matricless acting chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng today that he will be "thrown out like a used condom" by South African president Jacob Zuma once he has outlived his usefulness.
The EFF marched to the South African public broadcaster's Auckland Park headquarters today with shouts of "voetsek" and handed over a memorandum of grievances to the matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng and the SABC's acting chief executive officer (CEO) Tian Olivier.
"I must warn you that he is going to throw you out like a used condom," Julius Malema told Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
"You and the SABC undermine the intelligence of our people," Julius Malema told Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
"I must warn you. I must warn you that Zuma is going to flush you like used toilet paper. You must ask me," Julius Malema told Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
"Ask [Zwelinzima] Vavi and [Fikile] Mbalula. When it was time to dump us he did not think twice".
"If you don't change your conduct, we will come here, put a truck outside and celebrate your dumping," said Julius Malema. "I was once in the same position, supporting and protecting Zuma. I was like you, I used to protect him".
Thousands of EFF supporters held a public protest to the SABC following the banning of an EFF political party TV commercial by the SABC, a decision shockingly upheld on Friday evening by South Africa's broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).
In February the Public Protector Thuli Madonsela - now on the latest list of TIME magazine's 100 most influential people in the world but not yet congratulated by South Africa's ruling ANC government - released a damning report on corruption and maladministration at the SABC.
The Public Protector found that Hlaudi Motsoeneng "should never have been appointed at the SABC", and implicated him in maladministration, abuse of power, and misconduct like being directly involved in the firing of all the people who testified against him in a disciplinary hearing, as well as astronomical salary hikes for himself.
The SABC board under chairperson Ellen Zandile Tshabalala who supports Jacob Zuma, and SABC top management has done nothing since the release of the scathing report in which Hlaudi Motsoeneng in a recorded interview with the Public Protector admitted that he lied about having matric, and admitted that he "made up symbols" for a fake matric certificate he knew he couldn't produce.
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South African TV news covered today's EFF protest march to the SABC. Everyone's coverage contained mistakes.
■ The eNCA (DStv 403) anchor Jeremy Maggs on Tuesday erroneously kept referring to Hlaudi Motsoeneng as "the SABC's CEO".
The eNCA reporter Lenyaro Sello likewise also erroneously kept referring to Hlaudi Motsoeneng as "SABC CEO Hlaudi Motsoeneng" in the taped piece played several times (at 21:05 it was fixed). The eNCA story included audio and video of Julius Malema's criticism of and warning to Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
By 21:05 eNCA had fixed the autocue link as well as in the taped story, now correctly referring to Hlaudi Motsoeneng as the SABC's "acting COO".
■ The SABC (DStv 404) covered today's EFF protest march to the SABC.
The SABC's reporter Chriselda Lewis covered the story for the SABC and channels like SABC News (DStv 404). The SABC spelled their own acting CEO, Tian Olivier's name wrong in English language bulletins and on SABC News as "Tiaan Olivier" in the on-screen bottom third identifier.
Chriselda Lewis' story contained nothing - no mention, and no audio or video clip - of Julius Malema's warning to and criticism of the SABC itself and Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
In the SABC's Afrikaans news bulletin "Tian Olivier" was spelled correctly. The Afrikaans news bulletin however likewise contained no mention or inclusion - neither audio nor video - of Julius Malema's warning to and criticism of Hlaudi Motsoeneng, although it was slightly more balanced and a better edited story for broadcast.
