The SABC board is probing accusations of editorial interference levelled against one of its members, Mpho Tsedu.
The broadcaster’s head of news, Moshoeshoe Monare, lodged an official complaint after several incidents in which Tsedu was accused of giving instructions to editorial staff about news coverage.
The SABC confirmed it was looking into the issue but declined to go into detail.
“The SABC board is aware of this matter and is handling it in line with the SABC’s processes and policies,” said spokesperson Mmoni Seapolelo.
SABC sources said editorial staff had on several occasions believed Tsedu was acting inappropriately.
In one case, he allegedly instructed the news team to produce a story about the Africa Day Dialogue, an event that was held last month, the sources said.
The event was already on the news diary, but the material turned out to be “unusable”. Tsedu allegedly called an editor to insist that the story be run regardless.
The insiders said Monare tried to manage the situation by warning Tsedu, who chairs the board’s subcommittee on news and editorial, that the broadcaster’s policies ruled out intervention in editorial operations by the board.
It looked like [Tsedu] was on a mission. He was not talking to the head of news, he was talking to the staff that reports to the head of news
— SABC insider
He also reported Tsedu to board chair Khathutshelo Ramukumba.
“There are several incidents that had been reported of how he wanted a story taken off-air and some other material to be put on air by editors,” said one source.
Tsedu apparently paid little heed to Monare and, the sources said, summoned executive producers and editors to a meeting to present their coverage plans for next year’s election.
The SABC had already made a presentation to parliament about its general readiness to cover the elections in terms of technology and capacity.
This summons brought matters to a head and prompted Monare to lodge a formal complaint with the board, the sources said.
“It looked like [Tsedu] was on a mission. He was not talking to the head of news, he was talking to the staff that reports to the head of news,” said one insider.
“If you need information from management, you submit a request via the company secretary or via the executive directors,” the source said. “No-one talks directly to staff. It’s even worse because in this case there is a provision in the policy that you can’t interfere in editorial. Not even the group CEO gets involved.”
Chapter 5 of the SABC editorial policy states: “No employees other than editorial staff may engage in any editorial decision-making. As is the case outside election periods, editorial decision-making is a legally protected exclusive domain of designated editorial staff.”
Interference in the SABC’s editorial operations is considered a serious violation of editorial independence, which is guaranteed in law.
The purpose of the subcommittee Tsedu heads is to set up and oversee editorial policies, ensure the integrity and independence of news and current affairs programmes and to affirm the editorial independence of the news division.
Last year during the process of choosing new SABC board members in parliament, the public broadcasting lobby group SOS Coalition objected when MPs shortlisted Tsedu.
This was because at the time he was adviser to then communication minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, which SOS Coalition flagged as a possible conflict of interest. During the interviews, Tsedu undertook to resign from the government position should his board appointment be confirmed.
This week, SOS Coalition co-ordinator Uyanda Siyotula said it was not clear if Tsedu had actually done so.
“This person works for the department and obviously he is going to be used as a pawn to obviously push the mandate or things that would be considered interference,” Siyotula said. “Now we see it happening, which is totally unacceptable.”
She said the board should sanction Tsedu to send out a strong message against any form of interference at the SABC. The board needs to be “very strong” in protecting the editorial independence, she said.
Tsedu referred all questions to the SABC.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.