Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Public broadcasting lobby group, SOS Coalition calls for the SABC to be 'rescued from its sorry state'.


The South African public lobby group for public broadcasting, the SOS Coalition, is calling for the SABC to be "rescued from its sorry state".

The call from the SOS Coalition comes on the day the new minister of communications, Faith Muthambi"ordered" the SABC to appoint a new CEO within 3 months

Lulama Mokhobo quit in February as the umpteenth SABC CEO to suddenly up and leave and not finish a CEO contract.

Ongoing scandals continue at the public broadcaster which is still mired in a leaderless crisis.

The SOS Coalition has been at the forefront of the call for the rescue of the SABC from the many forces which have stripped its power and ability to be a successful people's broadcaster.

"We recognise that not all of the challenges facing our public broadcaster are of its own making," says the SOS Coalition, "but there remains a series of problems for which the SABC, including the SABC board, must take responsibility".

The SOS Coalition once again blasts the instability of the SABC's top executives "which has reduced the SABC's reputation as a reliable and trusted public institution to a devastatingly weakened state".

The SOS Coalition is also concerned over the SABC board's refusal to carry out the remedial actions suggested by South Africa's Public Protector.

Then there is "the SABC board's failure, amidst growing public distrust in the news and current affairs of the SABC, to oversee the conclusion of a widely consultative editorial policy review process, which is now nearly five years late".