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America has been keeping a close eye on the beleaguered South African public broadcaster with a cable sent from the US Pretoria Embassy in 2009 summarizing how the SABC is ''drowning in the red'' and detailing the ''culture of infighting'' at the struggling broadcaster.
In one of the tens of thousands of newly-released, confidential US diplomatic cables in the fresh batch of cables made available by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, the embassy in 2009 predicts ''a clean sweep for a pro-Zuma board and new executive management at the SABC'' in a cable entitled ''State media giant sinks into financial quagmire''.
The cable from March 2009 says the SABC has ''been engulfed in a battle for political control between supporters of the former South African president Thabo Mbeki and the new ANC leadership loyal to Jacob Zuma. The SABC has a long history as a government mouthpiece, dating back to the apartheid era. Despite efforts to recreate itself as a true 'public' broadcaster after 1994, it gradually fell back into its previous role of state broadcaster and regime supporter. The internal infighting and political manipulation taking place currently are playing out very publicly in non-state print and broadcast media.''
In another newly released cable from June 2008, marked as ''sensitive'' and also from the Pretoria Embassy, the SABC again pops up, referring to the ''current sad state of the SABC''.
''Those within the organization who continue the push for editorial independence are fewer and fewer, and they are marginalized,'' says the cable. The cable that mentions multiple names, goes into incredible detail regarding infighting within the SABC board at the time as well as ''embarrassing revelations about the inner workings of the SABC and its disarray''.
The cable from 2008 ends with, ''Given the nature of ANC politics and the apparent lack of broad public interest and support for major changes in the public broadcaster, real change is unlikely in the foreseeable future.''
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