Democratic Alliance(DA) in KwaZulu-Natal has accused the SABC of peddling the ANC agenda and being used to fight political battles by Corporative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department(COGTA) MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube.
The DA said it has filed a complaint with the Broadcasting Complains Commission of South Africa(BCCSA) asking it to investigate a programme on Ukhozi FM.
According to the DA leader in the province Zwakele Mncwango, during a programme which was aired on Sunday last week which is sponsored by the COGTA, a presenter asked Dube-Ncube about the allegations that were raised by the DA against her.
Early this month, Mncwango accused the MEC of what it called a “massive corruption” in the Nkandla and Mthonjaneni municipalities.
The DA said the MEC’s husband Sibusiso Ncube’s company Brand Partners were allegedly awarded a multi-million rand communications tender in the Nkandla municipality, and that Dube-Ncube allegedly made u turn on the Municipality’s Municipal Manager Langelihle Jili’s appointment after initially rejecting the appointment due to his qualification amongst other reasons, but allegedly made up her mind because her husband’s company was allegedly again awarded another tender by the municipality.
Mncwango said it was important to note that it was not the first time that the MEC had used the government-sponsored slot to promote the ANC’s agenda.
“We are concerned that the slot which is meant to be used to communicate government’s work in the province is now being used for irresponsible political point scoring. We have since asked the BCCSA to investigate the details of the contract between SABC and COGTA.”Mncwango said.
Mncwango said as the DA in the province, they were of the view that there was a bridge of Section 13(1) code.
“… which states “that presenting a programme in which a controversial issue of public importance is discussed, a broadcaster must make reasonable efforts to fairly present opposing points of view either in the same programme or in a subsequent programme forming part of the same series of programmes presented within a reasonable period of time of the original broadcast and within substantially the same time slot””
He said they were calling on the BCCSA to investigate the DA’s complaint to ensure that the Sabc and the department were accountable for using government departmental slots paid for by all South Africans to push political agendas.
Sabc Spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the at the moment, the public broadcaster has not received any correspondent from the BCCSA about the DA’s complaint.
“At this stage, the BCCSA has not said anything to us. It is when we receive a correspondent that we will respond.
“We can’t engage through the media,”Kganyago said.