THE SABC no longer apologises for its blatant promotion of the African National Congress almost every night on its various news bulletins, flashing the ANC’s logo and flag more than any news item on its agenda.
The recent complaint of unfair treatment by the Democratic Alliance (DA) elicited the following response from SABC group CE Dali Mpofu: "Equitable coverage does not mean we give every party the same amount of minutes and seconds", claiming it was absurd to give the same treatment to all 98 registered parties (Sunday Times, January 22).
The notion that the majority party should be given coverage in proportion to its votes is the kind of nonsense that inspires tyranny and perpetuates the idea that those in power should be given more power to keep them in power. There should be a rule that no journalist or editor should practise journalism unless they treat all political parties even-handedly, especially during elections.
On December 27, driving back to Cape Town from my holiday, I was shocked to hear a debate being fuelled on whether or not we should do away with the notion of "official opposition". The debate is scheduled for the parliamentary rules committee soon, and one would think that at least a spokesman from the affected party would have been invited to participate in the debate. But the sole spokesman was Corne Mulder, fuelling the Anglo-Boer war as only the Freedom Front knows how to do, happily inciting divide-and-rule politics.
Despite repeated calls from listeners that this is yet another measure to dilute opposition, Mulder repeated the claim that Tony Leon has no right to speak on behalf of the opposition – as though he has ever done so. As far as I know Leon has never spoken on behalf of other opposition parties but the DA. To do that would be absurd – the variety and range are such that one cannot speak on behalf of all of them.
These are but a few examples. The media has a duty to promote democracy. But its partisanship undermines rather than consolidates the democracy we still enjoy. A piece in the Sunday Times (January 15), condemning Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka for her pricey holiday at taxpayers’ expense, is a prime example of the partisanship I have come to despise in the media. While everybody uses the information they get from the DA for their own ends and to sell newspapers, they despise that very party for doing its job properly.
"Repeatedly, the opposition party brings to light matters of importance, only to drown them in an overkill of blame and self-congratulation. Douglas Gibson chief whip and terrier, appeared on national television this week. His smugness, coupled with his characteristically irrelevant and malevolent chirp that Bulelani Ngcuka is wealthy enough to foot the Abu Dhabi trip, inspires a solution" (Sunday Independent, January 15).
There is nothing more irritating than smug white journalists who call the opposition smug, yet they alone claim the right to criticise. What journalists in SA need is a basic course in Politics 101. One journalist on SAFM last Sunday commented that it was a pity Mlambo-Ngcuka had made this faux pas given her standing with the business community, hoping this incident "does not take away from what she has done". He seems to forget she became deputy president with the scandals of the diamond tiara and the Imvume-PetroSA oil saga hanging around her neck. Her holiday in the United Arab Emirates is just more of the same. Her appointment turns out to be a poisoned chalice.
To say the president’s office should clarify the rules regarding perks is to avoid the nub of what is at stake here. The ANC has been very adept at adopting rules to accommodate its undemocratic inclinations and it will easily make rules that allow it access to state resources at will, as exemplified by Jacob Zuma’s excessive use of state air travel for his private use when he was in office.
What the media needs to call for unequivocally is the resignation of public officials who enrich themselves at taxpayers’ expense and who misappropriate funds for their own purposes no matter how small. And Murphy Morobe’s unforgivable gaffe, that R700000 is a drop in the ocean, demonstrates exactly what the ANC is all about – R700000, R1m or R5m are no longer big amounts. When ruling parties like the ANC become used to enjoying the state’s largesse, and stealing large amounts of money, R1m no longer seems much. Lest we forget, between Frederick Chiluba, Daniel Arap Moi, Mobuto Sese Seko, Robert Mugabe and Sani Abacha, Africa could have written off its own debt a long time ago, instead of depending on the west they so despise.
Kadalie is a human rights activist based in Cape Town.
