Zondo Commission: DA calls on SABC to broadcast on terrestrial platforms for Nene appearance

2 October 2018

The DA has received a request from the SABC Board Chairperson, Bongumusa Makhathini, that our call for the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture be broadcast on major television and radio platforms be directed to the SABC News Editor.

We are happy to comply and will write to Group Executive of News and Current Affairs, Phathiswa Magopeni, to reiterate our call and to request that broadcasting starts tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Finance Minister, Nhlanhla Nene will appear and over the next few weeks, we will hear Pravin Gordhan and Barbara Hogan on how the Guptas, together with Jacob Zuma, tried to capture and pillage state resources. These are crucial testimonies that every South African deserves to hear.

State Capture has stolen so much from South Africans. As the public broadcaster and given the consequences of State Capture for the people of this country, it is in the public interest that the SABC dedicate at least one of its terrestrial TV channels and one of its radio stations to broadcasting developments of the Commission.

The DA has already written to the Secretary of the Zondo Commission, Dr Khotso De Wee, to request confirmation that senior ANC members will testify before the Commission. Numerous high-ranking ANC officials have been implicated in giving the Guptas access to state resources and they have much to answer for. South Africans deserve to hear this testimony and only the SABC can ensure that as many South Africans as possible are able to tune in.

The DA will be happy to make this request to all relevant parties so that South Africans are given the opportunity to watch or listen to how state capture could happen, who had a hand in it and who will need to be held accountable for the prolific looting and corruption that occurred.

Issued by Natasha Mazzone, DA Team One SA Spokesperson on State Capture, 2 October 2018