Zuma, DA question SABC
2005-12-19 12:51
Cape Town - Former Deputy President Jacob
Zuma
has written a letter to the chief executive of the South African
Broadcasting
Corporation (SABC) demanding why a planned interview with him on Sunday was
cancelled.
According to 702 radio news on Monday, Zuma was invited to speak to the
State broadcaster after he was judged "newsmaker of the year". It said the
corporation reacted by saying that it would have broken the sub judice rule.
Zuma is facing rape and corruption charges and was removed from the national
cabinet in June.
Meanwhile, official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) communications
spokesman Dene Smuts said in a statement that Zuma's aide - Mo Shaik,
brother
of his financial adviser Schabir Shaik - had echoed what her party had been
saying on numerous occasions.
He told a Sunday newspaper that: "We are
disappointed that the SABC has designed for itself a role which was not
intended by the legislation which underlines its functions as public
broadcaster. It cannot and should not act as a censor for what the South
African public should hear."
Smuts said: "That is exactly what the SABC news division does.
"The confusion displayed by the corporation in first inviting Jacob Zuma
for an interview with SABC1 talk show host Xolani Gwala as "newsmaker of the
year" and then cancelling the event is illustrative of the confusion into
which
His Master's Voice was thrown this year.
"A broadcasting house which follows the political leader instead of
following the news hardly knows how to conduct itself when the ruling party
splits into two, and develops two heads, as it did in 2005. Jacob Zuma's
aspirations have been destroyed by the latest charge against him, and the
SABC
seems to feel it can safely ditch the interview."
Smuts, a former journalist, said: "Until the left wing of the tripartite
alliance produces a credible new crown prince or princess, we are set for
the
traditional daily dose of (President Thabo) Mbeki and cabinet colleagues on
SABC TV news bulletins."