Report 'damning' for Snuki
2006-10-18 07:55
Johannesburg - SABC head of news and current affairs Dr Snuki Zikalala invited three presidency employees to preview an investigative insert in the SABC TV programme Special Assignment before broadcasting it.
Furthermore, he did this without consulting or informing Special Assignment executive director Jacques Pauw.
This was one of the revelations of the Sisulu report on an alleged blacklist of commentators and complaints to the public broadcaster that were published on the Mail&Guardian website.
The SABC refused to make known the 70-page report by Zwelakhe Sisulu, journalist and former executive head of the SABC, and advocate Gilbert Marcus SC, and attempted unsuccessfully on Saturday night to get an injunction against M&G.
Pauw did not testify before Sisulu and Marcus about the ban on the use of certain political commentators, but about an incident last year when he caught Zikalala showing an insert to members of the presidency, without his (Pauw's) knowledge.
Accusations of spying
The insert on safety at the OR Tambo airport was telecast on July 19 2005 without changes.
The Sisulu report claimed Zikalala did not deny in his testimony that he had shown a copy of that night's programme to three employees of the presidency.
But he was furious that Pauw had "spied" on him.
"When he [Pauw] held a meeting two days later with Dr Zikalala, Dr Zikalala refused to confirm or deny that the documentary had been shown to members of the presidency.
"His primary concern was to accuse Pauw of having spied on him (by obtaining the names of Zikalala's visitors) and threatening him with a disciplinary hearing," the report states.
Sisulu and Marcus said it was clear to them that Zikalala was more concerned about Pauw's "improper spying" on him than on the "underlying issue".
The commission said that the incident indicated that Zikalala was prepared to permit external interference.
President Thabo Mbeki's spokesperson, Mukoni Ratshitanga, said on Tuesday he was not aware of anyone in the presidency who had a meeting with Zikalala.
"It is very difficult to comment if you don't know who are the people being referred to - under what circumstances," Ratshitanga said.