Why do we care so much about the SABC?

August 5th, 2006

Every now and then a journalist asks a question that opens one’s eyes. The question is usually irritatingly simple, and often it is the naivete of a foreign reporter asking the obvious that gets one thinking. A German journalist asked me the other day why we are so passionate about the SABC. All over the world public broadcasters grapple with their relationship with the state and few succeed in managing it well. Why do we get so excited about it?

I was about to give her the pat answers about the troubled history of broadcasting in the country and the size of the SABC, which makes it more important and powerful than most public broadcasters. Then I realized that there was something else happening here.

I think we are at a tipping point. We see recent signs that our political process is opening up in an important way, and have a sick feeling in our stomachs that the SABC news and current affairs department is not playing its role in making this happen. Without it, the open society project could falter.

Just a few months ago, it seemed likely the next ANC leader would be anointed by the incumbent and those of us who are not ANC branch chairs would have to wait for the smoke to rise from the chimney to know if a new leader had been named at the ANC’s 2007 conference. That is no longer the case.

Just consider the last week in the media. The Sunday papers carried the hard-hitting pronouncements President Thabo Mbeki made to a closed ANC meeting. On the same weekend, Mbeki used the Mandela Lecture to express concern about the pursuit of individual wealth in our society. He was speaking indirectly of the sort of leadership and values the country wants. Much of the political reporting of the week has been speculation around the likely presidential candidacy of Cyril Ramaphosa.

The succession battle is being fought on the front pages and the rally platforms, and the merits of candidates are being openly touted. The doors of the conclave have burst open, and the ANC won’t easily close them again.

It is true that candidates still feel the need to deny they are candidates, but that is just a lingering remnant of the days of struggle and exile, when security and the need for unity made suspect an open show of ambition or individualism. In fact, one can now tell who is an ANC candidate by how vehemently they deny it.

It is a charade, for it is becoming clearer who the candidates are and what they stand for. This is one of the healthiest things to happen in a long time.

Now we have to hope that the emerging candidates are made to debate their attitudes and policies, and we move on from personalities and popularity. One of the great mysteries of the discussion over Jacob Zuma as a candidate is that he is silent on so many key issues. He was a part of the leadership that set policy up to now, but is being portrayed as having views different to Mbeki. We must hope that he is forced, over time, to tell us what he would do as president, and not rely solely on his image as a man-of-the-people.

The same goes for the other candidates. It would be sad if Cyril Ramaphosa was judged only by being a wealthy businessman.
But it will depend a great deal on the media to encourage these and other potential candidates to address these issues – and pin them down. Which one of them can promise us stronger leadership on HIV/AIDS, for example? Can Zuma make undertakings to his union allies without sharing them with the rest of us? Would he take the economy in a different direction? Do any of them have some fresh ideas on handling Zimbabwe? Or crime?

If this process can continue, we will be able to say we have taken a massive step towards the kind of open society in which democracy can flourish. It is the society envisaged in our 1994 constitution, which places such a premium on transparency and accountability.

The SABC is important to this not just because it is so big and powerful, and because – in radio in particular – it reaches audiences no one else does, but because it is the only medium in the country which should be able to rise above the limitations of commercialism. It should, and could, be the driver of this open society, finding interesting and exciting ways in which to engage us in national issues.

Let us hope that, the SABC gains the confidence in this period to deal with the issues properly. Not in half-hour unauthorized snapshots, but through investigation, probing, questioning and the airing of a range of different views and opinions.

*This column first appeared in Business Day, 2 August 2006

Entry Filed under: Anton Harber, Journalism, Radio, TV