Parliament's communications meeting for Wednesday on flawed SABC Bill abruptly postponed indefinitely

by Thinus Ferreira

Parliament's portfolio committee meeting to further discuss the controversial SABC Bill set for Wednesday has abruptly been postponed indefinitely.

The flawed SABC Bill was withdrawn in November 2024 by South Africa's communications minister Solly Malatsi who is from South Africa's DA political party but is being kept alive on artificial life support by committee chairperson Khusela Diko who is from the ANC political party.

Public broadcasting pressure groups as well as the industry have explained in detail to the politicians, numerous times - and again today - exactly how and why the SABC Bill is fatally flawed and why work on a bill should start from scratch instead of moving forward with the withdrawn bill.

Khusela Diko has been adamant that the badly done SABC Bill should be pushed forward with amendments.

While the two politicians from different political parties are fighting the technically insolvent SABC struggles on as an ailing public broadcaster in desperate need of a better legislative and regulatory dispensation in South Africa to ensure its survival as global streamers are making inroads and France's Canal+ is getting ready to take control of MultiChoice. 

Late on Monday Khusela Diko decided that Wednesday's planned briefing meeting of the portfolio committee on communications and digital technologies on the SABC Bill is "postponed until further notice".

According to Khusela Diko, the SABC Bill briefing was postponed "at the request of Solly Malatsi to allow engagement between the leader of government business, deputy president Paul Mashatile; the speaker of the National Assembly, Thoko Didiza; and Solly Malatsi to find a resolution to the current impasse on the SABC Bill".

ALSO READ: Groups again call for withdrawal of South African government's flawed SABC Bill

Groups again call for withdrawal of South African government's flawed SABC Bill

by Thinus Ferreira

South African organisations are once again calling for the withdrawal of the fatally flawed SABC Bill.

The completely irrelevant and disastrous SABC Bill proposes the creation of a second SABC with a separate board appointed by a minister and is filled with other failure prescripts.

This SABC Bill has become a point of in-fighting between South Africa's minister of communications who is from the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party and ordered it withdrawn in November 2024.

Then there is Khusela Diko who is from the African National Congress (ANC) political party and is doggedly fighting that the SABC Bill should go ahead and be processed in her role as chairperson of parliament's portfolio committee on communications.

After having done so previously, the SOS Coalition, Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), The South African Editors' Forum (Sanef), and the Campaign for Free Expression (CFE) are all once again calling for the withdrawal of the SABC Bill.

It's not just these civic organisations that have repeatedly said and explained why the SABC Bill is bad and not workable - so has the industry.

The organisations have written to the speaker of parliament, South Africa's president Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as parliament's portfolio committee on communications to explain and emphasise "the importance of the separation of powers doctrine and respecting due process".

"After months of advocacy for the withdrawal of the SABC Bill, SOS, MMA, Sanef and CFE welcomed the decision by Solly Malatsi, minister of communications and digital technologies, to withdrawn the bill," they say.

"However, we are now deeply disappointed by the prolonged delay on the part of the speaker of parliament in gazetting the withdrawal of the SABC Bill and ongoing unlawful, unconstitutional interference by the cabinet in the withdrawal of the Bill."

"Solly Malatsi followed due process by formally notifying the speaker of the National Assembly in writing about his withdrawal of the Bill. The speaker must gazette the withdrawal of the SABC Bill and has no authority to overrule the minister's decision."

"We urge the speaker, the committee and the cabinet to respect the separation of powers doctrine and proceed with the formal gazetting of the SABC Bill's withdrawal in line with the Constitution and the rules of the National Assembly as any continued deliberation of the SABC Bill by the committee and parliament in general would be unlawful."