SABC denies MG blacklist report

2006-10-14 20:39

Johannesburg - The SABC did not give the report into the blacklisting of certain analysts and commentators to the Mail and Guardian, SABC chief legal officer, Sihlali Mafika said on Saturday.

"I can say unequivocally that the SABC did not give the report to the Mail and Guardian," said Mafika during a court proceeding at the Johannesburg High Court on Saturday night where the Mail and Guardian challenged an urgent interdict forcing it to remove from its website the SABC report into the blacklisting.

"The terms of reference in the inquiry were clear that it was an internal report."

He said the only people who were authorised to access the report were the commissioner, Mabuza Attorneys, SABC group executive Dali Mpofu, SABC board members and Mafika himself.

The Mail and Guardian went to court on Saturday evening after the newspaper published the full, 78-page report on its website claiming the SABC had "violated" the recommendations of a commission into the charges by releasing only a "sanitised summary" of its findings in a seven-page statement on Thursday.

Mail & Guardian editor Ferial Haffajee said she arrived at work on Saturday to find the urgent interdict ordering the newspaper to remove the report from its website.

Its publication accompanied that of a newspaper article by Haffajee, entitled Inside the SABC blacklist report.

In it Zwelakhe Sisulu, who chaired the commission, and Gilbert Marcus, who assisted him, were quoted as saying it would be "abhorrent, and at gross variance with the SABC's mandate and policies, if practices of the old order were being repeated in the new, with the effect of again disqualifying South Africans from democratic discourse and debate.

"For this reason, we are firmly of the view that this report should be released to the public after consideration by the board."

"When the commission was started, the SABC Board chairperson (Eddie Funde) said they will come back to the public with the information and there will be maximum transparency," Haffajee said on Saturday.

The commission was set up to probe complaints about a ruling, allegedly by news head Snuki Zikalala, that certain commentators and analysts not be used because they were critical of President Thabo Mbeki.

They apparently included independent political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi; the author of a book on Mbeki, William Gumede; and Business Day staff members Vukani Mde and Karima Brown.

The move, in June, came shortly after the SABC "canned" an independently made documentary about Mbeki, and was criticised for this by the Congress of SA Trade Unions, and the Democratic Alliance and other opposition parties.

Mpofu has now been tasked by the SABC Board with taking "whatever steps he deems necessary".

- SAPA