EFF statement on eNCA and the banning of the doek

2 June 2016

The EFF condemns the policy of the eNCA in banning the doek for its journalists, in particular on women. We condemn this as part of the racist anti-black repertoires that characterise South African white supremacist run institutions. It is a matter of fact that Television mediums, as well as other image mediums remain trapped in the colonial mode of aesthetic representation of black people.  

Removing a story because of a black woman journalist is wearing a doek, is the worst form of censoring than that of the SABC refusing to show images of violence during protest actions. It is worse because in the case of the SABC it is based on a twisted logic about promotion of violence. The eNCA on the other hand is a colonial anti-black racist denial of African aesthetic expression. Effectively, eNCA is saying wearing a doek, which is a famous popular wear for African women, religious and otherwise, is not aesthetically befitting of television journalism. Thus, African women who choose to have the doek, must then feel incomplete or inferior for their aesthetic choices.

For us in the EFF, it does not matter that the journalist was wearing the doek on Africa month, as if wearing it on Youth Month or Women’s Month will be wrong. In South Africa, every month, everyday, every hour, every second, is Africa time, Africa day and Africa month. We are Africans, even when we visit Europe or America because this is our home and Africa is in us.

eNCA must live with this fact and take the opportunity to transform even its aesthetic appearances to look like a television news program that is in Africa, by Africans and for Africans. As things stand, there is little if nothing, that shows Africanist about them. They are mimics of Europe who seek approval from European audiences and not the audiences that give them all the money they have to produce news.

Issued by Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi, National Spokesperson, EFF, 2 Junie 2016