EFF condemns media blackout of protest in KZN especially by the SABC
10 July 2021
The EFF condemns the deliberate muting by the South African Broadcasting Cooperation (SABC) of protests across the Kwa-Zulu Natal province yesterday on the 9th of July 2021.
In an act reminiscent of the regime of the incompetent and factional Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the SABC has provided close to no coverage of uprisings in the province despite them being of significant concern to the nation and communities in the province.
The SABC has a mandate as a public broadcaster to ensure it reports all news without bias and comprehensively, to ensure that the nation is informed and can draw its own conclusions on matters that confront our society. The SABC undermines its mandate when it conducts its coverage selectively and raises suspicion that it is assuming a posture similar to captured news entities such as the racist eNCA.
It was the SABC that brought live coverage of the hours leading up to the former President's arrest at Nkandla until the early hours of the morning, yet, when there are popular uprisings related to the same incident, the nation is in the dark and following incidents on social media.
The EFF has reasonable suspicion that the President of the ruling party, Matamela has issued an instruction that there must be minimal to no coverage of the protests in Kwa-Zulu Natal. This is in order to numb down their significance and entrench an narrative that the incidences of protest in the province are of no consequence to his national image.
We send a strong warning to Matamela not to co-opt the national broadcaster in his factional endeavours and undermine its duty in order to sanitise his image.
As a nation we have a right to comprehensive coverage of protests that have an impact on national discourse, our economy and the livelihoods of people. We reject the SABC's attempt at substituting coverage with measly hashtags and sharing of content from social media platforms.
The national broadcaster is not an arm of the ruling party and it must never be turned into a public relations entity of the ruling party and its factions. The protests in Kwa-
Zulu Natal are of national interest and the SABC must cover them accordingly.
Issued by Vuyani Pambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 11 July 2021
