South Africa's public broadcaster wants to keep proceedings of disciplinary hearing of its SABC news boss Phathiswa Magopeni secret as lawyers for South African National Editors Forum and CFE demand that media be allowed to attend.

by Thinus Ferreira

While South Africa's public broadcaster wants to keep the proceedings and what is being said and revealed in the upcoming disciplinary hearing of its SABC news boss Phathiswa Magopeni secret, lawyers for the South African National Editors' Forum and the Campaign for Free Expression (CFE) are now taking action and demanding that the media be allowed to attend.

Phathiswa Magopeni who said she is scared and is being hounded out of the SABC, said that the SABC chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini and SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe are both guilty of direct editorial interference in the operations of SABC News after they asked for SABC News to do an interview with ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa during the election campaigning period before the recent municipal elections.

Phathiswa Magopeni responded after she was slapped with a disciplinary hearing - set for 17 December that looks like it's a SABC witch-hunt - for allegedly bringing the SABC into disrepute and for alleged negligence. 

It comes after an episode about tow trucking was broadcast in November on Special Assignment while a court interdict was in effect against the investigative magazine show.

Gugu Ntuli, SABC spokesperson, initially wouldn't comment on the latest SABC and SABC News scandal about alleged editorial interference.

Last week the SABC finally responded only to say it won't comment on the case, with the SABC board noting that it takes Phathiswa Magopeni's allegations of editorial interference at SABC News "seriously".

Now the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) and the Campaign for Free Expression (CFE) are demanding that the media is given access to Phathiswa Magopeni's disciplinary hearing, and that the hearing takes place openly and transparently.

"An open and transparent process will not only assist the public to make up its mind on the case, but it will also aid the SABC to dispel the perception that the process is part of a political witch-hunt," says Sbu Ngalwa, Sanef chairperson.

 

"Sanef reiterates its respect for the SABC's internal processes and being able to hold staff accountable - hence we are not calling for the disciplinary action to be abandoned but rather for it to be open to the public as the issues at hand are a matter of great public interest."

Anton Harber, CFE executive director, says "Too much is at stake for this to happen behind closed doors".

"Phathiswa Magopeni has said that she is being hounded out because she has resisted political interference. We need the public to see if this is a return to the days when factional politics dominated the SABC and buried its public service mandate."

Lawyers for Sanef and CFE have written to the chair of the hearing, Advocate Nazeer Cassim, to ask that the media be allowed to attend the proceedings. 

Nazeer Cassim has asked the Sanef and CFE legal team to argue the case for openness when the hearing begins on 17 December. 

The SABC has already refused a Sanef request to open the hearings and are therefore expected to oppose the call for openness and transparency.

"The South African public broadcaster is no ordinary employer," Sanef and CFE say in a media statement.

"The public broadcaster plays a unique role in South Africa’s deliberative democracy, which it can either foster or undermine. Phathiswa Magopeni's grievance squarely impugns the SABC's impartiality and independence."

"Whether she indeed acted negligently in breaching a court order is a matter of public interest."

"The SABC has been on the right course to restore its public service values and to reverse the damage caused by years of political interference and manipulation. As a society we must be vigilant to prevent this from happening again.

ALSO READ: Scared SABC News boss Phathiswa Magopeni details shocking allegations of editorial interference by SABC chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini and CEO Madoda Mxakwe who pressured for ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa to do an election interview.

ALSO READ: SABC board says its takes SABC News boss Phathiswa Magopeni's allegations of editorial interference atSABC News of SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe and SABC chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini 'seriously' but 'won't comment further at this stage'.

Sbu Ngalwa exiting Newzroom Afrika as political editor and jumping to EWN replacing Mahlatse Mahlase as editor-in-chief.

by Thinus Ferreira

Sbu Ngalwa is exiting Newzroom Afrika (DStv 405) where he was the political editor and is jumping to Primedia's Eyewitness News (EWN) as its new editor-in-chief, replacing Mahlatse Mahlase as editor-in-chief from 10 January 2022.

Sbu Ngalwa who is currently also the chairperson of the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) says in a statement about his exit from Newzroom Afrika and joining EWN "I'm excited to be part of the Eyewitness News team".

"I believe Mahlatse Mahlase is leaving behind a solid team and a firm foundation on which to build. As we move into a digital future, I believe EWN is the best platform – through audio and digital news content – to produce trusted quality journalism and to continue to cultivate the best talent in the media industry".

Geraint Crwys-Williams, Primedia Broadcasting chairperson, says "Primedia believes that a strong newsroom gives a voice to South Africans and holds to account those in positions of authority".

"Sbu Ngalwa is a trusted journalist whose body of work stands testimony to those values. We welcome Sbu to Primedia as we embark on a digital journey that will amplify our brands and see us innovate and enrich our audience's journey".

Newzroom Afrika has not made any announcement about who will be acting as political editor from 2022 at the TV news channel or a new replacement for the position.

Newzroom Afrika reporter Ziniko kaMlhaba wrongfully arrested in Soweto while covering South Africa's 2021 municipal elections; SABC News reporters harassed in Limpopo.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Newzroom Afrika (DStv 405) reporter Ziniko kaMhlaba was wrongfully arrested in Soweto while covering South Africa's 2021 municipal elections on Monday for allegedly "interfering with the work of the Independent Election Commission (IEC)" while 3 SABC News reporters were harassed in Limpopo.

The South Africa's National Editors' Forum (SANEF) strongly criticised the wrongful arrest of Ziniko kaMhlaba, with the South African police criticised for its "sheer abuse of power" during an election.

Newzroom Afrika's Ziniko kaMhlaba was arrested live on television by South African police on Monday at the Zakheni Primary School in Soweto while reporting about the voting process taking place at the school.

Ziniko kaMhlaba was handcuffed, put in the back of a police van and taken to Orlando police cells.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo said that the South African Police Service was forced to arrest Ziniko kaMhlaba from the voting station for allegedly "interfering with the work of the IEC".

"This matter has since been escalated to the provincial commissioner of Gauteng Elias Mawela who ordered both the release of the journalist and an investigation into the matter."

Newzroom Afrika says that both Ziniko kaMhlaba as well as cameraman Muraga Mphaphuli had the correct and necessary media accreditation cover the voting process at the school grounds.

Ziniko kaMhlaba had tried to request the presiding officer to interview party agents and members of the public outside the voting station but she refused to talk to him. 

She ordered him and a camera person to leave the premises outside the Zakheni Primary School.

Ziniko kaMlhaba tried to engage the Gauteng IEC media liaison officer to mediate, but his efforts were fruitless as the presiding officer "just walked away and refused to take the call".

"When police who observed the discussion refused to kick him out of the school premises on grounds that he had not broken any law, the presiding officer then called the Orlando Police Station and reported him allegedly as a person disrupting the elections inside the hall of the polling station."

"A senior officer who introduced herself as Station Commander Kubheka came and threatened to arrest me if I did not stop trying to interview the public on issues of lack of electricity and others that affected them," Ziniko kaMlhaba said.

“We were never inside the building where voting was taking place, but the presiding officer seemed to have informed senior officials that we were inside.

The live crossing on Newzroom Afrika was then shockingly interrupted by the Kubheka police person who then also chased and took cellphones from members of the members who were recording the incident.

IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo told journalists at an IEC briefing that the IEC has launched a "fact-finding mission" to determine the circumstances surrounding Ziniko's arrest.

Katy Katopidis, Newzroom Afrika news director Katy Katopodis, in an interview on Radio 702, said that the TV news channel "is absolutely outraged and we have taken this up at the highest levels with both the South African police and the IEC".

"It is an attack on media freedom and it is an abuse of power by the police. He has been released now but it is something we are taking very seriously."

Sbu Ngalwa, SANEF chairperson in a statement says that the arrest of Ziniko kaMlhaba "was totally unnecessary and sheer abuse of power by the police. No journalist should be arrested or harassed for merely doing their job. Journalism is not a crime."

"SANEF is concerned that despite all the pre-election engagements and preparations, something like this still happened and the police reacted with a heavy hand instead of facilitating an amicable solution."

SABC reporters in Limpopo also harassed

In an unrelated elections coverage case 3 SABC News (DStv 404) reporters were harassed and intimidated by members of the public while reporting on elections issues near the polling station in the hostel in Tsabeng, in Tzaneen, Limpopo Province.

"SANEF was told that after packing their equipment to leave the area to report elsewhere, a group of men and women hostel residents hauled insults at SABC reporters Pimani Baloyi, Mahlatse Phaladi, and cameraman Mpho Masela demanding that they immediately leave the area because the media was not welcome there."

Mpho Masela who was driving the SABC News vehicle calmly tried to manoeuvre slowly and leave the area while the group approached the car and pounded the car bonnet with their hands.

"We stayed calm and slowly drove off and avoided confrontation. We were not physically harmed," Pimani Baloyi says.

REVIEW. During and after South Africa's Thursday hostage drama Newzroom Afrika won the night, followed by SABC News 2nd and eNCA arriving 3rd in the coverage play-by-play.

by Thinus Ferreira

On Thursday night at around 23:30 while Newzroom Afrika's (DStv 405) political editor Sbu Ngalwa had literally found and pulled a reluctant South African police national spokesperson Vish Naidoo into the camera glare for a live interview in the aftermath of a ministerial hostage drama, the SABC News (DStv 404) cameraman showed viewers how its reporter arrived after several minutes and ran to also push a mic into Vish's face.

It took even longer for the eNCA (DStv 403) cameraman to arrive to show that channel's viewers how the eNCA reporter scrambled down a corridor to, quite belatedly, also thrust a mic into Sbu Ngalwa's basically done interview.

Sbu Ngalwa's brilliant work, and cornering Vish Naidoo with a doorstop interview, was indicative of how the totality of Thursday night went on South African TV news in the play-by-play of covering the developing news story for television viewers.

Newzroom Afrika fully won the night after it quickly switched to rolling and constant coverage, including cellphone footage (that neither SABC News nor eNCA had) of the night's ministerial hostage drama.

Newzroom Afrika constantly kept churning out updates and interviews, including a right-panel update screen. 

It put SABC News and eNCA to shame that both stuck with pre-recorded stories and election coverage for quite a while before trying to catch up and match Newzroom Afrika's "CNN-style" breaking, rolling coverage.

On Thursday night it looked like SABC News and eNCA were caught flat-footed, initially with more mooted coverage than Newzroom Afrika's borderline lurid, grainy cellphone video of the hostage drama that unfolded inside the St George's Hotel complex where South Africa's minister of defence Thandi Modise and other government officials were held hostage and had to be rescued by the South African Police Service Special Task Force.

Social media provides further proof of the pecking order of Thursday night's TV news channels' news coverage race.

eNCA on Twitter had absolutely nothing on its feed with no news updates after 22:00 where it apparently closed up shop and ended the night with a type of sponsored post about advertiser-funded content available on the channel.

SABC News put in a valiant effort with a few news updates but it's Newzroom Afrika that absolute excelled. 

Newzroom Afrika churned out both text and video reports about the unfolding developments late into the night and already started notifying potential viewers throughout the night about who it was prepping and lining up for interviews on Friday morning.

Newzroom Afrika felt present and out front as a media outlet covering the event on various platforms while SABC News and eNCA looked as if it they were short on resources and scrambling to catch up.

While Newzroom Afrika was covering the breaking news with real rolling coverage, SABC News initially did more short reaction interviews and commentary from its Auckland Park studio before a reporter eventually arriving on the scene.

eNCA would break in with the story but would weirdly return to packaged election news and other stories before it also switched full-time to rolling coverage from outside the St George's Hotel.

Noteworthy is that Thursday night's coverage of the ministerial hostage drama was led by men: Three male anchors with Thabo Mdluli (Newzroom Africa), Peter Ndoro (SABC News) and Shahan Ramkissoon (eNCA) behind the studio desks, and three male field reporters, Sbu Ngalwa (Newzroom Afrika), Samkele Maseko (SABC News) and Pule Letshwiti-Jones (eNCA) at the scene of the hostage drama.

Thabo Mdluli, Peter Ndoro and Shahan Ramkissoon were all great at "anchoring" with skilled gravitas and holding all of the various strands of news information together once all three TV news channels were fully covering the unfolding story.

Shahan Ramkissoon showed wonderful presence of mind by holding up a cellphone to his lapel mic to get the audio to viewers.

 

Sbu Ngalwa was first inside the St George's Hotel complex doing walk-and-talk, on-the-ground reporting. SABC News and eNCA, together with Newzroom Afrika, eventually all showed roving reporters and cameramen roaming the hotel corridors.

Also noteworthy was how all three TV news channels were able to immediately extend their live coverage for the night on Thursday night for breaking South African news instead of switching to repeats at their pre-determined hours.

It's clear that some learning has taken place and contingency plans put in place at all three TV news channel newsrooms having been showed up and found wanting in the past with non-coverage and no live coverage of South African news of national importance happening late night.

Katy Katopodis, Newzroom Afrika news director, kept viewers informed and actually told the audience on social media that the channel would remain live on the story, saying "We're extending our live broadcast to bring you rolling coverage of the breaking news from the St George's Hotel. Our politics editor, Sbu Ngalwa is coming to you live from the scene".

Watching and tracking all three TV news channels simultaneously on Thursday night for hours, Newzroom Afrika clearly won the night by a wide margin and looked the most like breaking news and rolling news coverage of the ministerial hostage drama. 

SABC News and eNCA were never able to fully match what Newzroom Afrika showed or did first - and better - on Thursday night.

While Newzroom Afrika showed cellphone footage of inside the room and with Sbu Ngalwa shown already walking around inside the hotel grounds and complex, at the same time SABC News would do a phone interview with static images while eNCA showed its reporter standing outside the front entrance.

In the TV news stakes, on Thursday night Newzroom Afrika was the one that constantly just looked the best.