ANC politician Jessie Duarte lashes out at eNCA reporter Samkele Maseko in an ugly rant at a press briefing after telling SABC News to switch their camera off.

Jessie Duarte, the ANC political party's deputy secretary-general in South Africa, on Tuesday afternoon lashed out in an ugly rant at the eNCA (DStv 403) reporter Samkele Maseko with the shocking verbal tirade that immediately went viral and lead to massive coverage on eNCA as well as SABC News (DStv 404) and across other media in the country.

The SABC's SABC News division, broadcasting the shocking incident from its own camera angle, revealed how Jessie Duarte told the SABC to turn its camera off before she launched into her attack on eNCA and Samkele Maseko.

The SABC not only kept its camera rolling but also broadcast how Jessie Duarte told the SABC to switch its camera off on Tuesday evening.

At the ANC press briefing Jessie Duarte laid into Samkele Maseko, slamming him as "the worst bully I've ever come across", saying he was "arrogantly disposed" and that he believes he is "the lord of media".

Jessie Duarte in her tirade criticised Samkele Maseko for trying to "defend freedom of speech you've never fought for".

"Mr Samkele, you have a habit of intimidating everybody, you have a habit of making people feel that you are the lord of the media, you are one journalist, you work for one eNCA and you think all of us must shiver and shake," said a finger-waving Jessie Duarte.

"You call me me a bully but you are the worst bully I've ever come across. I've never met anyone as arrogantly disposed as you are and you want to defend freedom of speech you've never fought for."

"And you don't defend freedom of speech because your particular TV station has decided the direction it will go on as it did in 2016 you followed the DA slogan of 'vote for change'."

"So what do you want us to do? To bow and scrape every time you walk into a room and call you my lord, the lord of the media? You are just a journalist just as I am just a citizen, nothing more, nothing less. Yes, this is personal," said Jessie Duarte.

Video surfaced on Tuesday afternoon of a caustic Jessie Duarte in 2017 berating a CNBC Africa (DStv 410 / Cell C black 512) reporter in a similar on-camera meltdown.

In a statement issued by the ANC afterwards the political party said that it "has noted the one-sided and biased story given by the eNCA on the interaction between Samkelo Maseko" and Jessie Duarte and that "Samkele Maseko engaged in an unacceptable and unprofessional outburst".

The ANC said that "Jessie Duarte reiterates her commitment to freedom of the media and editorial independence which has been championed by the ANC for many years".

"Jessie Duarte today really sounded like Donald Trump," Anton Harber, Caxton Professor of Journalism at Wits University told Open News on Tuesday evening about the ANC deputy secretary-general verbal attack on the eNCA reporter.

Anton Harber told eNCA that "I'm very concerned because Jessie Duarte is so far out of line that, she really needs to be pulled back into place. She seems to think that she can dictate who asks what questions and fails to recognise the role of the media and her duty".

"She seemed to be upset about the hard questions. And we're saying, well, journalists must ask hard questions. That's the whole point, Kate Skinner, executive director at the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) told SABC News in an interview on Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday morning the SABC's Morning Live show featured and interviewed both Samkele Maseko and Kate Skinner.

Morning Live anchor Leanne Manas told viewers that the ANC political party's spokesperson and Jessie Duarte have both gone underground. "Please answer your phones. We want to talk to you."

Former SABC CEO quitter Lulama Mokhobo resurfaces as one of 13 candidates who now wants to be on the broadcasting regulator's council.

Several candidates were interviewed this week in South Africa's parliament for vacant positions on the council of the country's broadcasting regulator, Icasa.

Candidates appeared before parliament's portfolio committee on communications in Cape Town for interviews as possible replacements for empty seats on the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa's (Icasa) Council.

The former SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo resurfaced who infamously quit after just a few months because she was unable to cope at the South African broadcaster where the controversial and famously matricless executive Hlaudi Motsoeneng usurped her authority.

Also interviewed were the former e.tv executive Natalie-Ann Delport who raised eyebrows when she told the portfolio committee that she wants MultiChoice to lower the subscription fees for DStv.

Natalie-Ann Delport failed to explain how she wants DStv subscription fees to be lowered, or why as a would-be Icasa council member she is unsupportive of a free market economy within South Africa's broadcasting industry as far as private broadcasting operators are concerned.

The experienced broadcasting expert and academic Kate Skinner is also on the list and was a former co-ordinator of the Support Public Broadcasting (SOS Coalition) public pressure group advocating for good public broadcasting in South Africa.

15 candidates were shortlisted for interviews but 2 - Prof Onkaetse Mmusi and Themba Phiri - withdrew.

The other candidates are Thembeka Simane, Andrew Phetho, Adv Cawekazi Mahlati, Dr Mashilo Boloka, Nomonde Gongxeka-Seope, Rubben Mohlaloga, Thabo Makhakhe, Peter Hlapolosa, Ashraf Patel and Phosa Mashangoane. 

Candidates were asked about the South African government's long-delayed and failed digital terrestrial television (DTT) project, broadcasting licences, and broadcasting regulation and legislation.

Shocking Broadcasting Amendment Bill from Faith Muthambi an 'illegal take-over of the SABC' as minister plans to turn SABC from a public to state broadcaster.

A Broadcasting Amendment Bill secretly being pushed through parliament by the ruling ANC government has been created to turn the SABC back into the Apartheid era state broadcaster it was before 1994.

The shocking Broadcasting Amendment Bill will change the Broadcasting Act, giving absolute control to South Africa's minister of communications to hire and fire SABC board members and the chairperson and will reduce the number of SABC board members.

The change will make the South African Broadcasting Corporation even more insulated and unaccountable to parliament or to the people of South Africa and instead only accountable and controlled by the South African president through proxy of the communication minister.

The shocking plan to hijack the SABC and to turn it into a state broadcaster comes from the controversial minister of communications, Faith Muthambi who has already overreached by directly intervening and firing SABC board members and now wants to place the SABC back under total state control which it was during Apartheid when it was a blatant National Party mouthpiece.

If approved and signed into law, the Broadcasting Amendment Bill will give the minister of communications in South Africa, in this case the highly unpopular Faith Muthambi, sole and total control over who to appoint, and when to fire, SABC board members.

It is exactly what she has been doing this year using the thinly-veiled disguise  and excuse of decimating the board saying she's doing so under the Companies Act because the SABC is a "state-owned entity".

The unstable SABC has been lurching from crisis to crisis with acrimonious in-fighting and instability on SABC board level as well as within its top-executive ranks, with the SABC and the government struggling to fill top-executive positions, SABC board member positions still vacant for months, as well as the position of the SABC chairperson.

Instead of a democratic process, Faith Muthambi wants to unilaterally take over the process since it's become too difficult to constantly replenish empty SABC board and SABC executive positions when people quit, are fired and leave in shame when they're exposed as having lied about qualifications like the disgraced former SABC chairperson Ellen Tshabalala.

The Broadcasting Amendment Bill,if passed will drastically reduce the SABC board members from 12 to just 9.

The Broadcasting Amendment Bill also seeks to reduce the quorum for voting on decisions from 9 to 7.

The president of the country, through the minister of communications will now appoint the few SABC board members that there will be instead of parliament.

The Broadcasting Amendment Bill also seeks to give the president and minister of communications the right to appoint an "interim SABC board" at will.

The Bill also specifies a new easier and much more unaccountable way for the re-appointment, firing and resignation of SABC board members.

Oversight of the SABC as a public broadcaster is reduced and taken away and the SABC is turned into a state broadcaster under control of the ruling president and that person's serving minister of communications.

The public pressure group for public broadcasting, the SOS Coalition says it will go to the Constitutional Court to challenge the shocking Broadcasting Amendment Bill.

"We are appalled that the minister of communications would seek, so brazenly, to transform our national public broadcaster into a state broadcaster beholden to the government of the day," says Sekoetlane Phamodi, SOS Coalition spokesperson told TVwithThinus.

"The SOS Coalition will take all necessary and available steps to oppose and challenge this move by the minister. The SABC belongs to the people of this country and, accordingly, it's board must be appointed by their public representatives in parliament in an open and public process."

Kate Skinner, independent broadcasting expert and Wits lecturer told TVwithThinus that "these amendments remove parliament and the public from the appointment process".

"This takes us full circle back to Apartheid. Here the public had no role in SABC appointments - the Broadcasting Act of 1976 stipulated that the president alone should appoint SABC board members."

"This is a betrayal of the ABC's post-apartheid vision for public - not state - broadcasting," says Kate Skinner.

"There is no room for this Broadcasting Amendment Bill in our democracy. It must be removed".

In a statement the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party says the Broadcasting Amendment Bill "is quite simply bad news for South Africa's democracy".

"It will see the last vestige of independence removed from the SABC, paving the way for it to become a ANC government propaganda tool under the control of Faith Muthambi."

"Along with the SABC Memorandum of Incorporation secretly signed by Faith Muthambi in September 2014 which gives the minister of communications the right to usurp the SABC board's powers reducing it to a mere rubber stamp, the Broadcasting Amendment Bill will give the ANC complete control over the SABC," says the DA.

"For South Africa's hard-won democracy to thrive, it is imperative that the country has a public broadcaster that is independent of government, free from political interference and presents news that is an accurate representation of conditions in South Africa."

"Any machinations to remove the independence of the SABC must be viewed as not only undemocratic, but also possibly, unconstitutional."

"The DA will vehemently oppose this Broadcasting Amendment Bill for the benefit of all South Africans who have a right to impartial news, not ANC good news stories and propaganda".

The South African Communist Party (SACP) is also vehemently opposed to the Broadcasting Amendment Bill and minister Faith Muthambi's shocking plan.

The SACP says the Broadcasting Amendment Bill will turn the SABC from a public broadcasting into a "corporate broadcaster". "The Bill will effectively make the SABC a company. All future minister of communications will have direct control over the SABC, instead of parliament".

The Inkata Freedom Party (IFP) is also strongly opposed to the Broadcasting Amendment Bill and shocked by the proposed plan to turn the SABC into a state broadcaster, calling the Broadcasting Amendment Bill "disturbing" and "an illegal take-over of the SABC".

The IFP is calling for South Africans to boycott the SABC and to immediately stop paying their SABC TV licences.

"We must unite, across political divide to save our public broadcaster," says the IFP in a statement.

"As a start, the IFP is of the opinion that citizens should lead a campaign of civil disobedience by not paying their TV licenses. If all else fails, the courts must be approached to stop this disastrous amendment bill from succeeding".

"The tabling of the Broadcasting Amendment Bill by the minister of communications will effectively turn the SABC into a state broadcaster," says the IFP.

"As things stand, the National Assembly, through the portfolio committee of communications, is part and parcel of shortlisting, interviewing and recommending candidates to serve on the SABC board."

"While the IFP has in the past lamented the fact that the SABC board appointment process is flawed - because the ANC uses its majority in Parliament to push though candidates of their choice - the current process does allow for opposition parties to negotiate and fight for the most qualified, independent candidates to be considered for these posts."

"However, if the broadcasting Amendment Bill is passed, the National Assembly will no longer be involved in appointing members to the SABC board. This will become the sole prerogative of the minister of communications."

The Economic Freedom Front (EFF) party slammed the Broadcasting Amendment Bill as "an Apartheid move".

The EFF calls the proposed change of the SABC from a public broadcaster to a state broadcaster under the control of the minister of communications "an anti-democratic, totalitarian move".

"This proposal demonstrates an uncontrollable desire by the ANC government to totalitarianism and be accountable to no one. The significant thing of any totalitarian government is total control of public broadcasting services coupled with suppression of all media freedom".

"Without the public broadcaster‚ held accountable by both parliament and cabinet‚ society only depends on corporate private broadcasters to hold politicians accountable," says the EFF.

"This Broadcasting Amendment Bill is therefore an Apartheid move‚ a fascist totalitarianism seeking to monopolise the running of the people's broadcasting services to government."

"Without parliament‚ people like the SABC's chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng‚ who are unqualified to hold positions they occupy‚ will be increased in the leadership of the SABC solely because they want to kill independent journalism within the pubic broadcaster and stop all criticism on the government of the day," says the EFF.

SOS Coalition holding a meeting on 7 March to try and save the 'dying' SABC; SABC 'lacks credibility, culture of censorship taking hold'.

The SOS Coalition, a civil society pressure group looking out for public broadcasting in South Africa, will be holding a mass meeting for the public on 7 March at Constitution Hill in Braamfontein to try and save the "dying" SABC from censorship, political interference and maladministration.

The SOS Coalition, a vast group representing major groupings from academics to trade groups and the South African TV and film producing sectors, was established in 2009 when the SABC came to the brink of financial collapse due to gross mismanagement.

"In 1994 we were building an SABC we could be proud of. Today our SABC is, yet again, unfree," says the SOS Coalition. "We are being denied an independent, credible and people-driven public broadcaster," says the group which is planning a mass meeting on 7 March at Constitition Hill (number 4 and 5) from 14:00 to 17:00. Anyone is free to attend.

The SOS Coalition will try to seek a course of action as to what is to be done. "Why is our SABC falling apart? Who benefits from a dysfunctional SABC?" asks the group. "We, the people, must act radically, and act now. Unspeakable bad maladministration is killing our public broadcaster".

Last year the entire SABC board resigned after intense infighting to be replaced with yet another new SABC board.

Just this year the SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo quit barely two years into her five year contract without giving any reasons and becoming yet another CEO in and out in a revolving door of CEO's at the SABC fingered for maladministration.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) released an independent and scathing skills audit report of the SABC which found SABC workers and executives lack critical thinking and found fraudulent and non-existing qualifcations and certificates and that a lot of SABC workers don't even have personnel files.

Then the Public Protector released a shocking report into abuse of power, irregularities and maladministration at the SABC.

The Public Protector's investigation of over a year found that the matricless liar and acting chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng admitted in a recorded interview to having committed fraud by claiming he had a matric certificate and that he made up symbols, and implicated him in irregular hirings and firings at the SABC, such as the firing of all the people who were involved in an earlier disciplinary hearing against him.

The Public Protector also questioned how Hlaudi Motsoeneng's salary grew multiple times per year. He currently gets a salary of R2.4 million.

The Public Protector said that Hlaudi Motsoeneng "should never have been appointed at the SABC". After two weeks the SABC and the SABC board has not suspended Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

The Special Investigative Unit (SIU) last week detailed in parliament further details of corruption, mismanagement and wasteful and irregular spending of more than R275 million at the SABC.

"The SABC lacks credibility," the independent and veteran broadcasting expert and researcher Kate Skinner tells TV with Thinus. "It isn't sufficiently trusted. This is worrying in an election year when people particularly need to get credible, balanced professional news and current affairs programming".

"Our public broadcasting post-1994 was excellent. There was a lot of excellent content but sadly this has deteriorated due to political interference and mismanagement of the institution. There have been significant financial crises, particular in 2008 and 2009".

"A culture of censorship and fear is beginning to take hold at the SABC," says Kate Skinner. "Journalists are not taking risks and pushing boundaries."

She says several examples of countries with great public broadcasting exist.

"Everyone always talks about the BBC but there is also the very powerful Japanese public broadcaster NHK that produces some excellent public service programming. It has done some innovative work with citizen journalism including citizen inserts at the end of its news broadcasts".

"Swedish public radio year after year is voted the most trusted institution, above parliament and the courts, in Sweden. It produces excellent distinctive programming catering for regional interests and dialects".

"Some public broadcasters however in Eastern Europe have started to shift back to being state broadcasters. We are seeing that in South Africa."

"All public broadcasters are under threat in terms of public funding costs. They need to produce more with less. Public broadcasters are generally not having an easy time but many continue to rise above these challenges," says Kate Skinner.

BREAKING. MultiChoice announces an increase to monthly DStv subscriber fees from April; why pay-TV in SA continues to grow.

You're reading it here first. 

MultiChoice will increase the monthly cost of its various DStv bouquets from April with the satellite pay-TV platform's most expensive offering, DStv Premium, set to rise from R625 to R665, but with no increase and change to its two cheapest bouquets, DStv Access and DStv EasyView.

MultiChoice didn't make an announcement to press but posted the annual price increase to DStv subscribers which will come into effect from 1 April on its website over the weekend.

MultiChoice says that while the company wants to offer DStv subscribers affordable digital entertainment "we have to make sure our business can survive well into the future".

The satellite pay-TV operator, in response to DStv subscribers wondering why they can just pick and choose TV channels and pay for those, says that it will not cost subscribers cheaper.

"We understand that you feel you'd save more money if you could choose only the channels you want to watch. Unfortunately this is not the case. It's actually more cost effective to structure channels into packages".

"Choosing your own package with your own channel selection would mean you'd end up paying more than you are now (and for just a few channels). That's why we offer a range of packages with different fees and channel combinations – to cater for the viewing choice and pocket of a wide range of customers".

From April DStv Premium is set to increase from R625 to R665, DStv Extra will go from R380 to R399, DStv Compact will increase from R275 to R295, and the DStv Family and DStv Select bouquets are both going from R175 to R185.

M-Net subscribers will see a monthly increase of R300 to R315; the M-Net/CSN analogue channel offering interestingly costing more than some DStv bouquets and worth half as much as the most expensive bouquet.

Despite the increase, the pay-TV and satellite TV sector in the country continues to show strong growth as TV viewers shun the troubled South African public broadcaster with a mounted satellite dish - from the most affluent gated communities to the most rural dwelling - which is regarded as an aspiring status symbol in South Africa.

While consumers are re-evaluating what they're doing when it comes to discresionary spending, it has become clear that existing pay-TV subscribers are keeping their monthly pay-TV subscriptions despite tougher economic circumstances the past three years.

Although On Digital Media (ODM) has seen a decline in StarSat subscribers to between 100 000 and 120 000 subscribers, MultiChoice's DStv keeps growing and added 531 000 subscribers over the last year to 4,69 million South African subscribers.

The Sabido-owned Platco Digital also launched its OpenView HD (OVHD) satellite television offering late in 2013 which is also showing growth. Viewers pay around R1 600 once-off for a decoder and satellite dish installation and then get to watch 20 TV channels for free with more channels coming this year.

The independent South African broadcasting expert and researcher Kate Skinner tells TV with Thinus that pay-TV in South Africa continues to grow because "people are desperate for good content and they are prepared to spend money to get it".

"It is depressing that the free-to-air offerings are no longer seen as attractive. It is an indication that the SABC is not offering sufficiently interesting and attractive content".

"Overall you don't want a situation where only poor people are left watching free-to-air and public broadcasting because what that will mean is that we will start to develop a two-tier broadcasting system in our country where everyone who can afford pay-TV goes for that option, and only poor people are left with the rest," says Kate Skinner.

"All the resources and good programming will then be concentrated in the pay-TV market. In a country with the development challenges that we have, we need everyone to receive a great selection of TV programming - particularly news and current affairs and educational programming".

"If you are a middle class person with good broadband connectivity you will have content available on the internet, however if you are poorer you won't have many options," says Kate Skinner.

BREAKING. Broadcast of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial on television is 'a seminal moment in broadcast history'.

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South African TV and broadcasting experts are calling the broadcast of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial on dedicated television channels and radio in South Africa, and globally, "a seminal moment in broadcast history".

The double amputee, paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year. On Monday he will appear in the Pretoria High Court for the month, standing trial and accused of premeditated murder in a sensational case which dominated and continues to draw massive worldwide interest.

From Sunday MultiChoice will run its own 24-hour, dedicated Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel on DStv on channel 199 with a live court feed as well as live discussion content and pre-packaged documentaries and inserts.

From Monday Sabido's Platco Digital will run it's own 24-hour, dedicated Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel on OpenView HD (OVHD) on channel 119 that will beam court proceedings daily from 10:00 to 16:00 and then loop it in repeat blocks.

TV and radio news channels ranging from eNCA (DStv 403), ANN7 (DStv 405), Sky News (DStv 402) and Eyewitnessnews (EWN) plan dedicated, rolling court proceedings and news coverage on the Oscar Pistorius court case.

"You have to understand that this is a seminal moment in broadcast history," George Mazarakis, the executive producer of Carte Blanche and the executive producer of the Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel on DStv tells TV with Thinus.

"We were preparing for this trial as if we're going to get nothing at all from the judge," George Mazarakis tells me. "To have achieved what we have is not only a significant moment in the history of South African jurisprudence but a testimony to the importance of open justice in the South African democracy".

"It is also for us a victory in terms of being able to present to our audiences a very complete picture - a more complete picture of how the judicial system works. Its a way of showing that everyone is capable of a free trial or can receive a free and fair trial," says George Mazarakis.

"People are critical and saying that broadcasters shouldn't be asking for these things. But actually it is the way to ensure a fair trial because the spotlight is on the courts".

The veteran South African broadcast expert and researcher Kate Skinner tells TV with Thinus that the judgement to allow broadcasting of the Oscar Pistorius court trial "is good news".

"It is practical, sensible and balances the rights of the public to know and to follow the case while at the same time ensuring that the court proceedings aren't unnecessarily disturbed. This sets a good precedent for the rights of the broadcast media to cover these high profile trials in future," she says.

"There has been a lot of interest around the Oscar Pistorius case among our viewers, therefore we would like to afford our viewers the opportunity to witness and follow the trial of Oscar Pistorius as it happens," says Monde Twala, e.tv's head of channels as to why e.tv is doing a 24-hour trial channel on OVHD.

"MultiChoice's channel will feature an incredible breadth of content," Aletta Alberts, MultiChoice's head of content tells TV with Thinus."It's not going to be just a one dimensional 'Oh, this is the trial and we're going to do analysis', type TV channel," she says.

"There's important pieces, profiles on the lawyers, profiles on the witnesses; the DStv channel is a fully comprehensive 360  degress and not just about Oscar Pistorius and the court trial," says Aletta Alberts.

"All the journalists involved are preparing very thoroughly for this. This is a complicated matter and it has to be treated with responsibility. There is an enormous amount of research that's been done," George Mazarakis tells me.

"I must make it clear that that particular application that was granted was an application that we as past of the MultiChoice group negotiated with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). This was a very different application from the one applied for my e.tv".

"The application we brought was deeply considered, a great deal of behind-the-scenes work went into it. And we came to a conclusion that we couldn't ask for blanket coverage".

"It wasn't what the judicial system would be ready to give us at this point. Remember it had never been granted before. So what we achieved is a remarkable result. Basically blanket coverage on audio and we got quite a lot of television coverage on top of it," says George Mazarakis.

Regarding the broadcast feed George Mazarakis says "we provide the actual physical mechanism for accredited media to plug into. And then what they do with it is up to them but there are no holds barred. Everybody who is an accredited broadcaster around the world would be able to access it".

"The feed will be made available to all media, not to the public - I think the public thinks that they're going to get access to that feed. That feed will be on the DStv Oscar Pistorius TV channel and on other accredited broadcasters. It is free of charge, at a point where different broadcasters then picks it up and deliver it to their own station," explains Aletta Alberts.


ALSO READ: George Mazarakis from Carte Blanche and Aletta Alberts from MultiChoice talk about the content of DStv's dedicated Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel.

Interviews for candidates for the new 12-member permanent SABC board will start next week in parliament.

Interviews for candidates for the new 12-member permanent SABC board will start next week Tuesday in parliament until Friday with the list of applications which has been narrowed down to 37 potential candidates.

A multiparty task team was set up last week to cull through the 147 applications which were received to be on the SABC board.

The SABC is currently governed by an interim SABC board who's term will expire at the end of September.

The interim SABC board members were appointed temporarily after the mass exodus and resignations of the entire SABC board in March this year. That followed after claims of undue interference by the then-minister of communications, Dina Pule, who has now been found guilty of corruption by parliament's ethics committee.

The names of members of the current interim SABC board appears on the list of 37 shortlisted candidates, among which are Ellen Tshabalala (the current interim SABC chairperson), Noluthando Gosa (the current deputy SABC chairperson), Ronnie Lubisi and Vusumuzi Mavuso.

The list of 37 names also includes Lumko Mtide who was on the SABC board previously and resigned earlier this year, as well as Darkie Africa, a North West province politician.

The list also includes the name of the highly respected Kate Skinner, the previous co-ordinator and now a member of the vast public pressure group SOS Coalition, a group striving for responsible and quality public broadcasting in South Africa.

Bongani Khumalo, CEO of the Lotto operator Gindani, Thembinkosi Bonakele, the deputy commissioner of the Competition Commission, Charlotte Mampane who is a former SABC chief operating officer and Hope Zinde, a former SABC Africa presenter also made the shortlisted 37.

Also under the shortlisted 37 candidates are Zola Majavu, the lawyer and Premier Soccer League prosecutor, together with the columnist William Gumede and veteran journalist John Mattison.

Connie Seoposengwe, a former speaker of the Northern Cape province is also on the list as a candidate, together with Joe Makhafola, a former spokesperson for the department of communications.

BREAKING. 'We demand something better. Much, much better.' - SOS Coalition's message to the SABC for Thursday's public protest.

''We want to tell the SABC 'we are watching you' and we demand something better. Much, much better.''

So says Kate Skinner, coordinator of the Support Public Broadcasting (SOS) Coalition on why South Africa's exasperated TV industry has decided on full-scale protest action that will take place this coming Thursday 24 November at 13:00 at the SABC in Henley Avenue Johannesburg as well as in Cape Town at the visitors' centre at parliament.

Ordinary TV viewers and radio listeners are welcome to join the public picketing with people who will be wearing red and black with placards. The protest will follow a similar one in 2009 when the TV industry also mobilised in a show of solidary and picketed the beleaguered SABC.

Explaining the reason for Thursday's public protest, Kate Skinner tells TV with Thinus that the massive public protest will be aimed at ''highlighting the critical importance of public broadcasting and to register our dismay and disillusionment around the perpetual corporate governance problems that keep rocking the SABC.''

''We want to put pressure on the SABC to deal with these problems once and for all! We also want to highlight the importance of excellent public programming and put pressure on the SABC to deliver on its public programming mandate. We want to tell the SABC 'we are watching you' and we demand something better. Much, much better.''

Kate Skinner says South Africa's TV industry and the SOS Coalition ''further really believe that it will be a step in the right direction to get dr Ben Ngubane, SABC chairperson, removed by parliament.''

''Someone needs to take accountability for the sorry state of affairs at our public broadcaster. Nothing will change if no-one is held to account. We hope to get dr Ben Ngubane removed. At the very least we hope to highlight the importance of public broadcasting and coming up with an alternative vision to the one we have now,'' she says.

The SABC didn't respond to media enquiries made about the TV industry's demand that dr Ben Ngubane step down, or the planned public protest action scheduled for this Thursday.

BREAKING. Ordinary TV viewers and radio listeners asked to join the planned public protest action on Thursday at 13:00 at the SABC.

South African television viewers and radio listeners are asked, and are welcome, to join the planned massive public protest action at the SABC that will be taking place this coming Thursday 24 November at 13:00 at the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters in Johannesburg in Henley Avenue and at the visitors' centre at parliament in Cape Town.

The Support Public Broadcasting Coalition (SOS) that is helping to spearhead the public picketing action with people asked to dress in black and red, says TV viewers and radio listeners should be ''concerned'' about the SABC and that they're welcome to join the public protest organized by South Africa's TV industry and public pressure groups.

''Definitely ordinary TV viewers and radio listeners should join,'' Kate Skinner, coordinator of the SOS Coalition tells TV with Thinus. ''We are talking about good corporate governance at the SABC and the need for excellent public service programming from the public broadcaster. Everyone should be concerned about that,'' she says.

''In fact - until ordinary people stand up and fight for better public TV in South Africa we are not going to get it!'' says Kate Skinner.

Following a similar public protest in 2009 against the South Africa's public broadcaster, South Africa's TV industry together with pressure groups and trade representative bodies are now demanding the immediate removal of dr Ben Ngubane as SABC chairperson. They want more local TV content and is asking for more strategic and accountable leadership at South Africa's public broadcaster plagued by management instability.

The SABC didn't respond to media enquiries made this week about the TV industry's demand that dr Ben Ngubane step down, or the planned public protest action scheduled for this Thursday.

ALSO READ: ''We need to fight for our public broadcaster,'' says the South African Screen Federation (Sasfed), asking members to join the SABC public protest action on 24 November.
ALSO READ: The Writers' Guild of South Africa (WGSA) a part of the public protest action against the SABC coming on 24 November.

BREAKING. SABC chairperson dr Ben Ngubane decides not to respond to SOS Coalition's questions about what is going on at the SABC.

Dr Ben Ngubane, the SABC chairperson, blatantly chose not to respond and reply to questions put to him on 25 October in an open letter by the Support Public Broadcasting (SOS) Coalition regarding the quagmire of a management mess at South Africa's public broadcaster.

The SOS Coalition, a public pressure group representing a vast number of the biggest industry stakeholders in South Africa's public broadcasting sphere, asked dr Ben Ngubane to please respond with answers by latest 12:00 yesterday, 1 November to a litany of questions.

The SOS Coalition wants answers from dr Ben Ngubane (who the SABC union Bemawu is calling ''a liar'') regarding ''a complete lack of vision, poor corporate governance, ongoing financial mismanagement, and multiple resignations of board members'' among other things. The SOS Coalition also wants to know from dr Ben Ngubane why the SABC is not commissioning new local content and what is going on with inexplicable and non-transparent management appointments. 

When TV with Thinus asked the SABC yesterday whether dr Ben Ngubane chose to respond to the SOS Coalition questions, the extremely arrogant answer from the public broadcaster was that ''the communication that you are referring to is between SOS and the chairperson. Any communication regarding the matter will be between the two parties, not through the media''. The SABC's corporate affairs division suggested ''to speak to SOS and ask them''.

Of course I was in touch with SOS several times yesterday, right from the morning until very late last night. Kate Skinner, co-ordinator of the SOS Coalition told me just after 12:00 yesterday that no reply from dr Ben Ngubane has been received. Later in the day the SOS Coalition decided to give dr Ben Ngubane and the SABC until the end of business yesterday to respond.

By the end of business dr Ben Ngubane and the SABC was still silent.

Not silent and not going gently into the good night is the SOS Coalition that will on Thursday afternoon decide how to proceed now with the SABC's highest ranking appointee who's deaf to the voice and plight and questions of South Africa's biggest public pressure group for public broadcasting.

ALSO READ: SOS Coalition public pressure group ''disillusioned'' and ''disappointed'' with SABC chairperson dr Ben Ngubane.

REACTION ON SOLLY MOKOETLE RESIGNATION: ''The person replacing Solly is faced with massive challenges.''

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I can be first with reaction on the sudden resignation of the SABC's beleaguered and suspended group CEO Solly Mokoetle after a tenureship of exactly a year in which he managed to turn a large section of the SABC staff, South African television industry, as well as the SABC board against him.

''Two things,'' says Kate Skinner of the public pressure group Support Public Broadcasting (SOS). ''Firstly its good that the SABC can now move on. These problems around the disciplinary hearing of the SABC against Solly Mokoetle has dragged on too long. With Solly Mokoetle's resignation it means that the SABC can move forward by finding and employing a new group CEO.''

''There are lessons to be learned from what has happened between Solly Mokoetle and the SABC,'' Kate Skinner tells me. ''The new SABC board will now hopefully get to choose their own group CEO and not have someone appointed for them like Solly Mokoetle was. So hopefully if they get to choose their person, they can work better with that person.''

''Secondly the kind of person the SABC appoints as the new group CEO to replace Solly Mokoetle will be very important. The person replacing Solly Mokoetle is faced with massive challenges. The person has to be highly professional within the broadcasting arena and have a vision for public broadcasting specifically. I think the person will have to have a vision for the public broadcaster and it's a tall order. This person will have to - as a matter of urgency - sort out the SABC's delayed turnaround strategy which is absolutely critical.''

''Getting a turnaround strategy in place and implemented was Solly Mokoetle's first and most important task when he became group CEO at the SABC at the beginning of 2010. Now its 2011 and once again the SABC will get a new group CEO. The clock is ticking.''

ALSO READ: The SABC confirms that its group CEO, Solly Mokoetle has resigned with immediate effect.

BREAKING. After more than a year: STILL no head of news at the SABC; broadcaster has no idea when appointment will be made.

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Nobody is noticing or keeping track but I can tell you first that it's now been more than a YEAR that the SABC has been without a permanent head of news. What's worse is that the South African public broadcaster has no idea of when the position is going to be filled and when somebody is going to be appointed.

Phil Molefe took over as acting head of news at the SABC last May when the broadcaster decided not to renew the contract of the controversial dr. Snuki Zikalala, with Phil Molefe who has now been acting as the SABC's head of news for just over a year now. I can also be first to tell you that the SABC is now also advertising for a TV news editor, as well as some other integral management positions at the broadcaster. I also asked the SABC, who has no idea of when the permanent head of news will be appointed, although the job was advertised and interview have taken place.

''The process to find a new permanent head of news for the SABC has started,'' SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago told me earlier today but couldn't give any indication of when an appointment will be announced. ''Applications have closed for that and interviews have taken place. An announcement will be made soon.''

Meanwhile I can reveal that the SABC is now advertising for a TV news editor, a TV news bulletin writer, a regulatory officer (to look after and make sure that the SABC's TV channels and radio stations all comply with regulatory requirements) and a financial manager in the technology division.

I also just spoke to Kate Skinner, coordinator of the independent and public pressure group, Support Public Broadcasting (SOS). ''The SABC's news and current affairs division plays a critical and central role in the function and mandate of the SABC as a public broadcaster. SOS feels that the position of head of news needs to be filled as a matter of urgency with the best person. Not to have a permanent head of news at the SABC is devastating since news and current affairs is one of the flagship departments at the SABC,'' says Kate Skinner.

BREAKING. Digital Dzonga advisory council sacked by minister of communications: SOS's reaction.

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I can be first to bring you Support Public Broadcasting (SOS) reaction reaction after the minister of communications, Siphiwe Nyanda sacked the full Digital Dzonga advisory council yesterday, tasked to advise him about South Africa's digital TV migration process, known as digital terrestrial television (DTT). Minister Siphiwe Nyanda cited a ''conflict of interest'' under council members who served on the Digital Dzonga for the past two years.

The public broadcasting pressure group, Support Public Broadcasting (SOS) has Kate Skinner as coordinator and SOS is weighing in with reaction as follows: ''The concept of a Digital Dzonga advisory council including all the significant stakeholders is a sound one. The digital migration process is complex and multi-faceted and requires all stakeholders on board.''

''To date the Digital Dzonga has generally done very good work, it has done significant research and made a number of solid recommendations on issues such as manufacturing standards. Where it has been slow, it has generally been because government has been slow to implement its recommendations. One area where it has been slow has been around communication issues to the general public. Unfortunately the department has not been very supportive here.''

''The important point going forward is that government should be swifter in its implementation of the advisory council's recommendations. Certainly if there are conflict of interest problems these must be dealt with but the process of digital migration must not be slowed down by the dissolving of the council. The minister of communications must move swiftly to call for new public nominations.''

e.tv's reaction.

M-Net's reaction.

The FULL PRESS RELEASE from the department of communications.