Fighting over the SABC’s soul

Console Tleane

Published in Business Day, 21 January 2005

Media reports about the sudden resignation of South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) group CEO Peter Matlare have focused on personalities and power struggles within the corporation. But the resignation does highlight the conflict of competing interests at the broadcaster.

On the one hand there is what one may term a corporatist and commercial agenda that views the SABC as the country’s biggest media organisation and thus a platform for advertising and income generation.

On the other hand there is the ideologically driven view that the SABC must be used to advance certain ideas.

How does this relate to Matlare’s resignation? The dominant view is that Matlare was pushed out. He is seen as having stood in the way of the SABC’s transformation into an African National Congress (ANC) mouthpiece. But was he?

Matlare is not a known political activist. So perhaps there was frustration with a manager who did not come from the traditions of the ruling party. A cursory look at some developing policy positions, both formal and informal, taken by the ruling party suggest frustration at what is perceived as an SABC that is not under its control. At least two major developments stand out.

The first was the 2002 51st ANC national conference. The conference resolved that the SABC should be publicly funded by 2012.

The discussion document preceding the conference (Media in a Democratic SA) noted the existence of a “media environment that does not reflect the needs and aspirations of the poor, rural people, women and labour”.

The second development was the bid by the communications department to push through Parliament a broadcast amendment bill giving the communications minister extended powers to determine major SABC policies.

The story that wasn’t told was the real frustration the department experienced in its dealings with the SABC. Ever since, the ideological agenda of the SABC has sought to trump the commercial agenda.

Matlare personified the corporate face of the SABC. Suave, articulate and eloquent, he fits the profile of the top business executive.

Under his leadership the SABC turned the corner and even some marginal divisions started to profit.

But the commercial agenda came at a huge price. We saw a gradual shift in SABC practice. The parliamentary portfolio committee on communications, the communications department, regulatory watchdog Icasa and the ruling party seemed powerless against the SABC. Under Matlare, the SABC became a law unto itself.

The subtle and not-so-subtle defence that Matlare’s management would always give when accused of veering away from public broadcasting values was: “Let the government give us funds and we will deliver on our public mandate.”

Increasingly, we had a public broadcaster that was not accountable to any person.

What form should accountability take? While Matlare’s leadership style proved favourable to markets, it is doubtful if the ideologues would be able to market the SABC with the same success. Or are we just about to see a publicly funded SABC emerge? Before defenders of the ideological agenda celebrate, a reality check is in order. The treasury is reluctant to fund public broadcasting, a major frustration for the communications department.

What is even more worrying about the ideological agenda is the emerging understanding of public broadcasting. The SABC is increasingly turning into a government mouthpiece. And news MD Snuki Zikalala, viewed by some as the force behind Matlare’s resignation, and the chief player among the ideologues, has made it clear in recent media reports that he feels there is nothing wrong with showing several news items within a 30-minute news bulletin covering the president’s comings and goings.

Matlare’s resignation signals a shift towards a confused ideological bias, from answerability to the market (advertisers) to answerability to the ideological apparatus.

Sadly, many voices are missing at the helm of the SABC — those who stand by the values and ethos of independent and critical broadcasting. The real victims are those who do not have the resources to switch over to other media — the poor.

Tleane of the Freedom of Expression Institute is the core author of Public broadcasting in the era of cost recovery: a critique of the SABC’s crisis of accountability (2003).