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'.

SANEF seeks meeting over claims that 'ghost of censorship is back at eNCA'.

Thinus Ferreira

South Africa’s National Editors’ Forum wants to meet with eNCA after unhappy and angry editorial staff at the eMedia Investments-run TV news channel are once again sounding the alarm over alleged censorship in their newsroom over coverage, citing a blackout order of a press conference of former president Jacob Zuma and saying that "the ghost of censorship is back in the eNCA newsroom".

This is the second time that SANEF wants to meet with eNCA management and staff, following shocking allegations of racism and newsroom censorship in late-2019 when Kanthan Pillay, founder of the Capitalist Party of South Africa (ZACP), was first hired and then fired in a senior news management position at eNCA (DStv 403).

Nothing came of SANEF call at the time for an investigation into how a politician was appointed as eNCA's director of news inside eNCA. 

The TV news channel was plunged into a credibility and reputation crisis following newsroom palace intrigued after reporter Samkele Maseko and others staff left and with Kantan who called them "rats" who are going to a "sinking ship", meaning the SABC.

eNCA has been battered by a constant exit of on-screen and behind-the-scenes talent over the past three years with multiple staffers exiting to the SABC and growing rival Newzroom Africa (DStv 405), with Thembekile Mrototo who became the latest to leave eNCA and is now appearing on Newzroom Afrika in a weekend slot since July.

Now furious editorial staffers at eNCA are once again accusing the TV news channel of censorship and bias in news coverage decisions after it failed to cover the press conference on 4 July of former president Jacob Zuma who is now behind bars.

eNCA didn't respond to a media enquiry on Friday seeming comment.

SANEF told TVwithThinus that it "has seen a letter by eNCA journalists complaining about censorship in their newsroom".

"We have contacted the news management at eNCA to request a meeting. While we await a response, news media should always strive to reflect the multiplicity of views within codes set out by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BRCCSA) and the Press Code."

In an internal memo to eNCA management, staff claim that eNCA is once again practising censorship in an email headlined "The ghost of censorship is back in the eNCA Newsroom".

eNCA staff are demanding an open and transparent investigation into why Jacob Zuma's press conference on 4 July was allegedly censored at eNCA and are also demanding the appointment of an independent body to look into eNCA staffers' concerns about editorial newsroom interference – similar to what was done at the South African public broadcaster's SABC News division a few years ago.

eNCA staff say that they are once again compelled to "collectively" raise their voices "as loudly, as forcefully and as resoundingly as we can muster, in rejection of censorship in the eNCA newsroom."

"Our observation and experience is that this tendency has been creeping in gradually, and arguably quite insidiously, over a period of time; an incident here, an incident there, an inexplicable decision here, an inexplicable decision there."

"But nothing could have prepared us for the zero to a 100 full-force nature in which our concerns were to be dramatised and confirmed 'beyond a reasonable doubt' in the inexplicable, untenable and objectionable decision to censor the coverage of former president Jacob Zuma's speech to his supporters in Nkandla on Sunday 4 July 2021."

The memo continues to say that "There is clearly a chain of command that determines which voices are to be snuffed out of the airwaves at eNCA".

"And the chain of command, we submit, does not start even in the most senior position in our newsroom, albeit implementation of unethical instructions arguably gains momentum at this level of newsroom management."

"We submit that it is our reasonable suspicion that the chain of command involves players who ordinarily should be concerned with the running of the eMedia business, including eNCA, but not taking editorial decisions."

eNCA staff now demand that eNCA "investigates the circumstances that led to the censoring of former president Jacob Zuma's address to his supporters on Sunday 4 July 2021, a news event that undoubtedly in the public interest and which we had the full capacity to cover."

Staffers want eNCA to appoint "an independent body to investigate staff concerns about editorial interference from the board, eNCA establishes a system whereby major editorial instructions must be communicated in writing only, if they are to be of any force or effect [and that] eNCA provides clear editorial direction on the channel's stance on Jacob Zuma coverage, to which we will respond to."

"We consider these matters to be of extreme urgency, as each passing hour seems to sink us to new depths. We, therefore, call on management to consider these matters raised herein, and give a comprehensive response," the internal memo states. "The Nkandla field team is demotivated and the output and input teams are outraged given that they try their best to conquer audience demands."

ALSO READ: Outraged eNCA staffers say 'the ghost of censorship is back', demand an independent investigation into alleged newsroom bias after Jacob Zuma presser was censored.