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'Re-consider SABC Board'
10/10/2007 21:27 - (SA)
Cape Town - Several labour and civil society organisations have asked President Thabo Mbeki to hold back on appointing the new SABC board and return the list of names approved by the National Assembly last month.
The organisations said in a joint statement on Wednesday: "We've asked him not to appoint them to send the list back to the National Assembly for re-consideration."
A letter to Mbeki in this regard was sent from the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu), Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI), Media Workers' Association of SA (Mwasa), the National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu), the SA Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa-SA), the SA NGO Coalition (Sangoco) and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).
Clear bias towards business figures
The organisations argue in the letter that, as representatives of the labour movement and civil society, they do not believe the list of nominees fulfils the requirement of the Broadcasting Act.
In terms of the Act, the board, when viewed collectively, should consist of "persons who are suited to serve on the board by virtue of their qualifications, expertise and experience in the fields of broadcasting policy and technology, broadcasting regulation, media law, frequency planning, business practice and finance, marketing, journalism, entertainment and education, and social and labour issues".
There was a clear bias in the list towards business figures, with at least five of the nominees falling into this category.
In contrast, there were no names on the list who could be said to have qualifications, expertise and experience in labour and social issues; this was in spite of the fact that nominees from the labour movement were forwarded for consideration.
"Our second objection in this regard is that there is no-one on the list who is a practising journalist, or has been a practising journalist recently."
No working class representatives
While there was a fair spread of people who had qualifications, expertise and experience in broadcasting policy and technology, broadcasting regulation, and law, this did not amount to fulfilling the requirement.
In addition, the proposed board did not represent a broad cross-section of the population, as required by the Act.
There were clearly no working class representatives, nor were there any representatives from the communities of interest - journalism and labour.
The organisations also objected to the inclusion of six members of the old board, all of whom had failed to demonstrate they were "persons who are committed to fairness, freedom of expression, the right of the public to be informed, and openness and accountability", as required by the Act.
"We are especially concerned about the prospect of Christine Qunta being appointed chairperson of the board.
"In her existing capacity as deputy chairperson, she has presided over the problems mentioned above, and has defended the board's actions publicly, including in her individual capacity in her interview with the portfolio committee on communications."
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