Party MP Lindiwe Mazibuko said the Public Service Broadcasting Bill, which was gazetted by the Department of Communications late last year, would confer wide-ranging powers to Nyanda in the functioning of the SABC.<\/p>\n
“The overall aim of this Bill is to locate control over the SABC in the hands of the minister,” Mazibuko said.<\/p>\n
“A strong board and an effective Parliament are what is needed to steer the SABC in the right direction, not an all-powerful minister with the authority to make the public broadcaster subject to the whims of the government of the day.<\/p>\n
“Aside from anything else, the Public Service Broadcasting Bill is unconstitutional, since the one percent tax proposal renders it a money bill, which, according to the Constitution, may only be introduced by the finance minister.”<\/p>\n
Mazibuko said the bill represented an attempt to revert the public broadcaster to a government-run state broadcaster, as was the case under apartheid.<\/p>\n
“In recent years the SABC has been the target of repeated attempts by successive ANC administrations to influence its news content and editorial stance, particularly with regard to political reporting.<\/p>\n
“This proposed legislation, we believe, represents an attempt by the current administration to legitimise such practices, which undermine the broadcaster’s independence and violate the constitutionally protected principle of media freedom.”<\/p>\n
The Democratic Alliance has proposed that the proposed legislation be scrapped in its entirety and the current Broadcasting Act remain in force.<\/p>\n