DA moots 'Terror', Zuma debate
2008-10-15 16:45
Cape Town - Dene Smuts, who speaks for the
Democratic Alliance on communications, urged the SABC to stage a proper
debate with the ANC president, Jacob Zuma, instead of tamely allowing him to
face an hour-long interview.
"For the news value, the SABC should have invited "Terror" Lekota to
debate with Zuma," Smuts said.
"Why not stage the debate that former president
Thabo Mbeki wants with Zuma about the role that the Nicholson judgment
played in his resignation?
"Or the debate with Zuma about his views on key
issues of national importance that Helen Zille has on numerous occasions
called for?"
Special opportunities
Smuts said the SABC did not exist to provide special opportunities for
particular political parties to punt their agendas, and she added: "Given
that South Africa's national election is only a few months away, any attempt
to provide such special opportunities inevitably creates the impression that
the SABC is subservient to the governing party."
She said that South African election campaigns had long been
characterised by an unwillingness on the part of ANC leaders to debate with
opposition parties.
This meant that South Africans were denied a real
opportunity to test their leaders and the credibility of the promises they
made, and they were therefore denied a properly functioning democratic
system.
"The SABC would be doing its job as a public broadcaster if," she said,
"instead of this propaganda exercise, it used its position to foster a
national debate."