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Publish
and be damned?: Zimbabwean commentators 'blacklisted' by the SABC
Sokwanele
November 27,
2006
http://www.sokwanele.com/articles/sokwanele/publishandbedamned_27november2006.html
In a country such as Zimbabwe, where
the media is far from free, still greater reliance than normal is
placed on international reporting of the gross human rights abuses
that are being perpetrated within our borders. Here, journalists
are threatened with arrest and imprisonment under the draconian
AIPPA (Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act), accreditation
by the regime is required, and foreign reporters and press agencies
are selectively banned. Accordingly, Zimbabweans learned of the
biased reporting policy practised by the South African national
broadcaster with a profound sense of shock and dismay.
The shameful news of the South African
Broadcasting Corporation's (SABC) informal reporting policy came
to light in September after an internal commission was set up to
investigate the News and Current Affairs Managing Director Snuki
Zikalala.
The commission - under former SABC
head Zwelakhe Sisulu and advocate Gilbert Marcus SC - found that
the SABC had indeed blacklisted certain commentators and analysts.
It was not official policy, but rather "by instruction" that certain
commentators and analysts were not used because they were critical
of President Thabo Mbeki. Those on the blacklist included commentators
on both South Africa, and on the Zimbabwe situation. The commission
found that these "instructions" were not always objectively justifiable,
particularly in the case of reporting on Zimbabwe.
The commission found direct evidence
that Zikalala gave instructions that Moeletsi Mbeki, Elinor Sisulu
and Trevor Ncube should not be used as commentators on Zimbabwe.
Both Mbeki and Sisulu appeared before the commission. "Contrary
to Dr Zikalala's impression that they were out of touch, both struck
us as having deep roots and connections within Zimbabwe," the report
says. "This is especially true of Ms Sisulu." It adds: "We find
that there was an instruction given not to use Mr Mbeki and Ms Sisulu
for reasons which are not objectively defensible. We also find that
Mr Ncube was directly informed by Dr Zikalala that he could not
be used for reasons which are not justifiable."
The obvious question to which these revelations gives rise is why
these persons in particular were "blacklisted". Elinor Sisulu is
an active member of civil society both in South Africa and in Zimbabwe;
Moeletsi Mbeki is a former journalist and now businessman and head
of the South African Institute of International Affairs; and publisher
Trevor Ncube is a successful Zimbabwean newspaper editor, whose
stable includes the Zimbabwe Independent, and the South African
Mail and Guardian. None of these eminent persons conform to South
African President Thabo Mbeki's agenda of quiet diplomacy - indeed,
all have been outspoken in the cause of freedom and democracy in
Zimbabwe.
Nor is this interference in objective
media reporting confined to the last few months. Back in April 2005,
the then Head of News at SABC Radio, wrote Zikalala a letter outlining
her concern:
...if your instruction was not to use
Moeletsi Mbeki, Archbishop Pius Ncube, Trevor Ncube or Elinor Sisulu,
all legitimate public figures, then I submit that it is so unreasonable
to be unimplementable. It would be morally wrong, professionally
wrong, and ethically wrong, and violate not only our editorial code
but the spirit of our Constitution.
Tellingly, that letter elicited a one-sentence
reply from Zikalala the same day: "I don't think that I will have
the time and energy to be involved in such arguments".
The fourth name blacklisted above,
Archbishop Pius Ncube, is that of the Roman Catholic Archbishop
of Bulawayo, a courageous and outspoken critic of the Mugabe regime,
who is also far from pursuing the "quiet diplomacy" of Thabo Mbeki.
Still more tellingly, at the conclusion
of the commission's mandate, SABC sought to keep its findings secret,
going to court to get an interdict forbidding The Mail and Guardian
from publishing the full text of the report. Thankfully, the High
Court Judge dismissed their application, saying, "I don't believe
that it is okay to suppress information or to hide information written
in the report", and stating that the content of the report was of
extreme importance to the public as the SABC was a public broadcaster.
Franz Krüger, a senior lecturer
at the University of the Witwatersrand's school of journalism, said
the SABC had "handled this whole episode very poorly": "I think
it's a real indictment for a news organisation to try [to] interdict
another from publishing something that's clearly in the public interest."
He said that The Mail & Guardian Online's decision to release
the report was "a completely appropriate decision and that there
was no justification for keeping the report under wraps". "People
need to see what the commissioners actually found," he said. He
added that the fact that the report found that people were excluded
was "horrific". "I don't see how [Snuki Zikalala] can survive this
but he probably will. He's doing what the board wants him to do.
The board wants coverage that is sympathetic."
The questions that this affair raises
are, firstly, from how far up the chain of command did this reporting
policy originate; and secondly, what are the implications for Zimbabwe
(not to mention, of course, for South Africa)?
To address the first question, as was
pointed out above by Wits' senior lecturer Franz Kruger, the policy
employed was almost certainly dictated by the board of SABC. It
is highly unlikely that Zikalala would have been acting on his own
initiative. It was even reported, directly after the event, that
the Group Chief Executive of SABC, Dali Mpofu, was "reconsidering
his options". So SABC - the national media house of South Africa
- has been exposed as having, albeit unofficially, a policy of biased
reporting.
Would SABC take this stand on its own
initiative? This seems unlikely. Here, it is pertinent to look at
the official government attitude in South Africa to the situation
north of their borders, in Zimbabwe. Thabo Mbeki has been employing
a much-criticised tactic of "quiet diplomacy" for a number of years
now. Initially, this was not unreasonable, his rationale being to
work behind the scenes with Mugabe to effect policy changes in Zimbabwe.
However, as the months and years have passed, any such efforts that
he might have been employing have been demonstrated to be worse
than useless because the regime has become progressively more entrenched
and more intractable. Accordingly his tactic has been increasingly
criticised in the international community.
So did the instruction to the SABC come from the man at the top
himself? That we cannot say for sure, though there are many indicators
that point in that direction.
As to the second question, the most
serious implication for Zimbabwe is that the current political and
economic crisis - and the attendant humanitarian catastrophe - will
deepen without the benefit of the objective reporting and informed
analysis one would have expected in South Africa.
People are dying in Zimbabwe. Aids,
poverty and malnutrition have taken their toll on the population,
so much so that the average life expectancy has fallen to 34 years
for women, and 37 for men. We need this news to be publicised; we
need people - influential foreign leaders - to realise the depth
of the humanitarian crisis here and to intervene. As already stated,
Zimbabwean journalists are hamstrung by draconian laws and by the
threat of the ever-present and much-feared (and rightly so!) Central
Intelligence Organisation (the CIO, Zimbabwe's secret police). As
such, we rely heavily on South African media houses who are on our
doorstep, to report the situation accurately and objectively. They
have an historic opportunity to play a part in exposing, not only
the humanitarian disaster which is unfolding within Zimbabwe but
the massive crisis in governance which has created, and is now prolonging,
that situation. If they should fail to seize this opportunity now
in effect they would be contributing to the perpetuation of misrule
and suffering. Biased reporting - or simply looking the other way
- is costing lives in Zimbabwe.
"Publish and be damned" runs the old
adage of intrepid reporters who refuse to allow themselves to be
intimidated by tyranny in any guise. For Zimbabweans however who
have no free press of their own, it is more a case of certainly
being damned - condemned to untold further suffering - unless the
truth about their country is published.
Zimbabweans are as united in their
resolve today to remove the Mugabe regime as ever South Africans
were to remove the cancer of Apartheid from their country. It is
a Zimbabwean struggle of course but, critically, they need the understanding
and strategic support of South Africa - as the liberation movement
in South Africa once required the strategic support of the international
community. The international community can criticise Mugabe and
his regime but, with silence from South Africa and President Mbeki,
this can all too easily be dismissed by Harare as "white neo-colonial
interference". What is needed is for Mbeki, as a black African head
of state to stand up to the bully and say "No". Mbeki has the power
and influence that comes with being the leader of the economic and
financial powerhouse of Africa to lead the way for a concerted international
push on Mugabe to step down and hold free and fair elections.
We can be thankful that the evil of
SABC's reporting policy has been exposed: when matters come to the
light they can be dealt with; whilst they remain hidden, the evil
can work unhindered. We hope that the findings of the commission,
and the subsequent subterfuge, will prompt all South Africans to
pose hard questions to their elected representatives. We trust this
will lead to a purge of the web of deceit that has been spun, and
a new openness to objective, truthful and balanced reporting.
Most of all, we look to the day when
President Mbeki will wake up to the fact that the disaster on his
doorstep will not go away unless he and his government act decisively.
Forget the old liberation war credentials - we need to be rid of
the tyrant - and we need President Mbeki to act as senior African
statesman to make this a reality.
Wake up, South Africa!
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