SABC supports Zikalala

SABC was left broad-sided this week when details of the Sisulu commission of inquiry into the blacklisting of political commentators allegedly critical of Government were leaked to the media by no less than one of South Africa's top media commentators, Prof Anton Harber. In a garbled statement yesterday, SABC frantically tried to do damage control, citing the terms of reference and reverting to legalese and bullet points in what must rank as one of the longest press releases ever issued to the media.

Business Day, which broke the hard hitting story by Harber, called it "shameful silence" in its editorial column as SABC failed to comment earlier this week on the fact that SABC news head, the ever-controversial Snuki Zikalala, was fingered for allegedly contravening his own editorial policy by banning at least eight independent political commentators from appearing on any SABC programmes. The story originally broke in The Sowetan newspaper almost six months ago.

In a long statement peppered with legal jargon and emphasis on the commission's terms of reference - issued by SABC group CEO, Adv Dali Mpofu, yesterday afternoon, Thursday 12 October 2006 - no decisive action was forthcoming, but none was really expected from the state broadcaster.

The start of it all...

The whole debate blew up in SABC's face on 21 June 2006 when SABC group spokesperson, Kaizer Kganyago, went on AM Live to address The Sowetan story. He specifically emphasised that there was no board-approved policy which allowed for "blacklisting" of political commentators, when the show's anchor, respected journalist, John Perlman, contradicted Kganyago by stating that "blacklisting" was happening "in practice". Perlman specifically stated that this practice was happening "by instruction".

That's when the SABC was pretty much forced to call for an independent internal commission of inquiry - established under the chairmanship of Zwelakhe Sisulu, assisted by Advocate Gilbert Marcus SC. The Commission, which ultimately heard 39 witnesses (several of which testified on condition of anonymity) submitted its report to the group CEO of the SABC last month.

After studying the report, Mpofu referred it to the Board for deliberation. "The first question to be considered was the manner in which the public would be informed of the outcome of the internal enquiry. Various factors, including the following issues, were seriously considered in arriving at a decision," said Mpofu. These included the following:

• First, the Commission had limitations in that it was to a great extent based on submissions from anonymous sources who chose for their own reasons to testify behind closed doors. While we are grateful to these individuals for coming forward, this does affect the qualitative value of the report.

• Secondly, the Commission was not conducted in the form of a trial. Accordingly the allegations made by the 39 witnesses were largely untested. In the case of anonymous witnesses the evidence was incapable of being tested, and may well be contestable.

Mpofu continued: "Going forward the group CEO will look into the issues of how grievances and policy should be addressed such that they do not raise public concern over the credibility of the Public Broadcaster. Due to these and other weaknesses, the SABC has decided not to release the report in its present form but rather to release the key findings and recommendations.

"In addition to the above, this decision was made taking into account the fine balance between the need for public accountability and transparency, the views of the Commissioners, the constitutional rights of the witnesses and the implicated SABC employees, as well as the fact that this was an independent but internal enquiry in the first place. The matter is, however, of sufficient public interest for the SABC to announce the key findings and recommendations immediately," Mpofu stated.

The Commission findings

The Commission:

1. Asserted that it was perfectly permissible for the SABC to have in place a policy dealing with the selection and utilisation of commentators and analysts.

2. Also accepted that decisions to exclude certain commentators may have been well intentioned or taken in good faith in the subjective belief that they were justifiable.

3. Was however of the view that objectively speaking and specifically in relation to an analysis of the SABC's mandate and editorial policies, where instructions not to use particular analysts in relation to specific topics, these instructions were not always (objectively) justifiable.
   

Specifically, Mpofu announced the following findings in relation to specific commentators:

Karima Brown: Finding that there was an instruction to exclude her as an analyst, but not to exclude her in relation to articles she had written. The GE: News and Current Affairs' justifications for her exclusion, namely that she had co-authored a false report in the Business Day tainting her credibility, was not accepted by the Commissioners.

Vukani Mde: No evidence to suggest that any instruction was ever given to use him as an analyst or commentator.

Aubrey Matshiqi: No evidence or finding of a blanket ban. Complaints were received from SABC News Division that he was being used too frequently. GE: News and Current Affairs asserted that one should be careful about using him because he had no research capacity. This and the concern about his remarks warning of "an impending revolution" were not accepted as objectively defensible reasons for his exclusion by the Commission.

William Gumede: No evidence or finding of an instruction to exclude him. Evidence that GE: News and Current Affairs expressed concerns about the authenticity of his book and hence his credibility. The Commissioners held that comments on his book were 'tantamount' to an instruction to exclude him.

Paula Slier: A direct instruction not to use her for news reporting because of alleged bias. Commission held that the reasoning was improper and against SABC policy.

Sipho Seepe: No evidence or finding of any instruction not to use him. Commission held that an expression of an opinion by GE: News and Current Affairs on his partiality was tantamount to an instruction not to use him. GE: News and Current Affairs specifically said that he could be used with another analyst present.

Moeletsi Mbeki, Elinor Sisulu and Trevor Ncube: An instruction not to use them in relation to the Zimbabwe crisis because they were allegedly out of touch with the situation there and biased. This happened during the Zimbabwe elections, some 14 months before June 2006. The given reasons for their exclusion were found by the Commission to be not objectively justifiable.

Evidence was led that other analysts were the subject of exclusion - the Commission found that the evidence was disputed and inconclusive.

"Misleading"

"The Commission could not find any discernable political motive or pattern. It accordingly could not conclude that there was an undue pro-government leaning on the part of SABC's Group Executive for News and Current Affairs. Likewise it was unable to discern any trend such as an individual commentator's stance on the succession debate or some other political issue. The Commission was nevertheless critical of the manner in which the exclusions were carried out, particularly the failure to adequately communicate the reasons downwards."

The Commission further found that the media statement stating that there were no blanket bans on the use of individual commentators "avoided the issue" and was "misleading by omission". Accordingly it found that Perlman's position was in conformity with the factual situation, the SABC statement read.

Mpofu added: "With regard to the morale in the News and Current Affairs division, the Commission was hesitant to make any pronouncement given the fact that there was evidence that the GE: News and Current Affairs is concerned to improve the quality of reporting, has taken steps to do so, is passionate and committed and leads by example, while other witnesses complained of low morale because of having to execute decisions with which they disagreed or in relation to which they had received no explanation."

SABC recommendations

Flowing both from its factual findings and the Commission's opinion based on the Commissioners' opinions, the SABC has made the following recommendations, (which are reported here verbatim):

1. No instructions to: exclude a particular analyst or commentator; or use a particular analyst or commentator only for a particular purpose; or use a particular analyst or commentator subject to any conditions - should be given without proper motivation in accordance with the SABC's mandate and policies.
   
2. Every instruction described in the paragraph above, shall, if contested, and if the matter remains unresolved, be subject to upward referral to the editor-in-chief.

3. Any person who receives an instruction described above, shall be entitled to request the reason for such instruction in writing and such reasons shall be furnished without delay.

4. These points should all be incorporated into the editorial policies by the Board, and additional and ongoing efforts should be made to ensure the familiarisation of staff with the editorial policies.

5. Specific instructions ought not to be in realm of the Group Executive: News and Current Affairs, whose functions should be restricted to the level of general policy and strategy. The job description should be clarified in this respect. Where micro-management of lower levels of the news hierarchy is based on a lack of trust in the competence of such levels, this needs to be addressed by empowering such ranks with adequate training to do their jobs rather than enforcing controls after the event.

6. Development of elaborated guideline policies on the use of guests, commentators and analysts should follow a process akin to that giving rise to the existing policies. This requires extensive consultation, both within and outside the SABC. Certain strictures in the current document appear to contradict the SABC's mandate and general policies, and could lead to undue exclusions, and thus need to be qualified or excised.

7. Without becoming artificially quota-based, an annual or bi-annual audit on the use of commentators and analysts should be conducted (possibly by News Research). The Board needs to provide oversight of this and make recommendations in relation to the findings of any such audit.

8. Presenters should, where appropriate, be trained on how to interview analysts and commentators. SABC employees should be deployed to develop specialist expertise so as to constitute an additional resource in regard to providing the public with informed analysis.

9. The position of GCEO as the editor-in-chief should be reinforced. The position ought to be commensurate with the high trust reposed on the incumbent. While not day-to-day editorial decisions, we recommend that the GCEO:

   • establish a forum comprising senior management in news and current affairs to meet at regular intervals;

   • receive general feedback on the operations, direction and content of news and current affairs;

   • institute monitoring systems, possibly by the establishment of a dedicated position, to monitor policy compliance;

   • give direction where appropriate.

10. The Board should take close cognisance of the concerns about the particular management style of Dr Zikalala as outlined in this report particularly regarding problems of communication and the inappropriately narrow interpretation of the SABC's mandate. As custodian of the SABC's mandate, the Board - without becoming embroiled in management issues - needs continuously and publicly to emphasise that the Corporation is the property of all South Africans. Accordingly, the Board's leadership should encourage SABC personnel to recognise their accountability to the public at large in terms of programming, ethos and presentation of a full spectrum of views and discourse within the country. In these ways, the Corporation can move forward from the damaging incidents around the "blacklist controversy".

11. The SABC Board has referred this matter back to the Group CEO to take whatever steps he deems necessary and to investigate the practicality of the Commissions recommendations and how they can enhance the functions of the Corporation to the good of the SABC and the South African public.

12. Finally, the Board expresses its full confidence in the GE: News and Current Affairs and his staff, noting that they operate under very difficult circumstances in an environment that is, rightly or wrongly, always challenging the integrity of the public broadcaster for various reasons, some of them political. We are also grateful to the Commissioners for the dignified and professional manner in which they conducted the investigation. The Board will now concern itself with internal processes for dealing with this matter.
    

The SABC thanked all who participated in this exercise, especially the witnesses, the attorneys and the Commissioners. "We are deeply appreciative of the role the Commission has played in building public understanding of the Public Broadcaster and the challenges facing editorial decision makers," the SABC statement concluded.