Veteran journo quits SABC
2007-01-30 07:15
Johannesburg - Veteran SABC journalist John Perlman has resigned, shortly after the news that Nikiwe Bikitsha, his co-presenter on SAfm's Morning Live, was leaving the public broadcaster, Business Day reported.
The newspaper cited "SABC sources."
Perlman's resignation is related to the controversy over the blacklisting of certain commentators from being interviewed on the SABC.
Perlman confronted the SABC's spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago on the air, and said that he, Perlman, knew there was a blacklist, something Kganyago had denied.
The SABC's chief executive, Dali Mpofu, ordered a commission of inquiry into the allegations.
The commission found that SABC staff were instructed to exclude certain commentators from commenting on certain issues.
Among those on the list were Business Day political editor Karima Brown, political analysts Aubrey Matshiqi, Moeletsi Mbeki, Elinor Sisulu and the Zimbabwean newspaper publisher Trevor Ncube.
The commission found that the SABC's denial of a blacklist was "misleading by omission".
The commission found that Perlman had been presented with an official statement from the SABC which he knew from personal experience to be untrue, and had correctly chosen to confront it.
The commission found an atmosphere of fear in the SABC newsrooms, which was not conducive to journalistic independence.
Business Day wrote that it "understood" that Perlman was leaving the SABC because it was unwilling to address the commission's finding that there was "an atmosphere of fear and distrust" at the broadcaster.
Kganyago was unaware of Perlman's resignation on Monday night.
- SAPA