Why we dare not look away from SABC list fiasco
HOWEVER unsurprising the government’s efforts to control the SABC might be to many of us who have observed the goings on between Auckland Park, Luthuli House and the Union Buildings, the latest attempt is nonetheless frightening.
This is particularly true in the current political context and more so when viewed through the prism of the African National Congress (ANC) presidential succession fracas.
I am, of course, referring to last weeks’ debacle in Parliament, when ANC high-ups ran roughshod over their own MPs and rammed through the names of its preferred candidates to serve on the SABC board.
Judging from the response of its allies, the ANC also ignored the input of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) when considering nominees for the new board. Cosatu and the SACP, which are trying to convince their members that they will succeed in “reconfiguring” the tripartite alliance, would do well to note just how powerless they were in the face of state power unleashed for narrow interests.
Those who pride themselves on pointing out how SA is nothing like our northern neighbour should consider that the citizens of Zimbabwe did not wake up one day to find themselves robbed of their freedom and rights. The degeneration we see was decades in the making and started the day good people looked the other way. Political analyst Steven Friedman correctly says that a dictatorship is not characterised only by mass imprisonment and the imposition of draconian laws. He says it starts when the powers that be refuse to listen.
Moreover, the shameless efforts to turn the SABC board into a conveyor belt for power and privilege is especially worrying when situated within the factional atmosphere within the ruling party. That the ANC caucus is deeply divided is evident in the readiness with which usually tightlipped ANC backbenchers vented their frustrations over the process, albeit off the record in some instances.
It also points to the nexus between business and ANC politicians — another feature so prevalent in latter day Zimbabwe, hence the unfunny joke about “Zanu-(Inc)” when analysts try to unravel the relationship that exists there between business and politics.
The fact that the ANC ignored its own MPs and the debates they had for more than a week also points to an increasingly antidemocratic tendency within the party leadership. It is reminiscent of the time in Parliament during the controversial arms deal, when no dissent was brooked by the executive. Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota’s behaviour last week resembled Essop Pahad’s handling of former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein, who quit politics because he put principle before power.
Much has been written about the relationship between the ANC’s Smuts Ngonyama, who famously told critics that he did not struggle to be poor, and SABC CEO Dali Mpofu. Now we know that Gloria Serobe has been handpicked by the Presidency to serve on the board. If appointed by the president, Serobe will follow in the footsteps of outgoing board member Cecil Msomi, who also does business with ANC types.
In my submission to the SABC appointed commission into the blacklisting scandal last year, I spoke about the need to probe the business links between board members, the ruling party and the government. I warned that unless there was transparency about possible patronage involving the board, business and financial interests would ultimately trump political bias as currency at the public broadcaster. I would like to know if departing SABC board chairman Eddie Funde, who has an interest in technology, will be doing business with the SABC in the near future.
While it is easy for opposition parties, civil society organisations and the print media to make noises about political bias, very few raise the undue influence of business on institutions such as the public broadcaster. This is so partly because many of these institutions are themselves recipients of funding from business either through donor monies, advertising revenue from powerful government agencies and the like. Is this not, after all, the way of modern capitalism and realpolitik the world over?
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