M&G: Zapiro show a huge hit
2009-05-27 17:30
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Johannesburg - An SABC
programme on political satire has been downloaded 3 500 times since it was posted
on the Mail & Guardian's website at 14:30 on
Wednesday.
"It's
almost brought the site down due to the number of hits we're getting. It's still
loading, just very slowly," said M&G Online technical manager Jason
Norwood-Young.
On Tuesday
night the SABC backed off airing the Special Assignment episode, the second time
it had done so.
"We were
expecting a fair amount of interest, but probably spread out more. I thought it
would be big tomorrow [Thursday] but it's obviously picked up
quickly."
Not the final version
The
documentary appears on the website without narration or voiceover, suggesting
that what had been posted may not be the final version of the
show.
It has
interviews with Zapiro, the pen-name of cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, and ANC
spokesperson Jesse Duarte.
The
programme was suspended for a second time on Tuesday evening. In a short
statement released an hour before the show was scheduled to be broadcast, SABC
spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said: "Tonight's episode of Special Assignment will
not be aired owing to the fact that due process with regards to consultation has
not been concluded.
"Because of
the problems encountered previously with this particular episode, the acting
group CEO Mr Gab Mampone in his capacity as editor-in-chief will need to make
the final sign-off."
In a
statement issued on Wednesday, Congress of the People KwaZulu-Natal weighed in
on the controversy with a condemnation of the programme's
suspension.
"Why has it
become a political blasphemy to criticise or cartoon (President) Jacob Zuma, (SA
Communist Party general secretary) Blade Nzimande, the Congress of SA Trade
Unions and the SACP?" asked spokesperson Siyanda
Mhlongo.
"That is
why we have many people switching to commercial [television] because the SABC is
now an ideological instrument of the ruling party. It is controlled and
manipulated by the ANC."
- SAPA