SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng has vowed to \u201cdeal with\u201d any employee disloyal to the public broadcaster.<\/p>\n
This would be carried out through \u201cOperation Clean Up\u201d, he told reporters at the SABC\u2019s headquarters in Johannesburg on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have realized that there are forces outside. They want to destabilise the organisation and also use internal people within the organisation and we are going to deal with them, especially with the people within the organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n
SABC employees were expected to be loyal to their employer.<\/p>\n
He said the SABC would not let external parties tell it how to do its job and it had nothing to apologise for.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not going to let anyone dictate to this organisation. We are here to lead. The reason why we are here is to lead and we are leading.\u201d<\/p>\n
Motsoeneng\u2019s statements follow a decision, announced on May 27, that the broadcaster would no longer air visuals of people destroying public property during protests.<\/p>\n
As a responsible public institution, the SABC would not \u201cassist these individuals to push their agenda that seeks media attention\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
The following month, Media Monitoring Africa, the Save Our SABC coalition, and the Freedom of Expression Institute laid a complaint with Icasa\u2019s complaints and compliance committee.<\/p>\n
Icasa held a public hearing on the matter on June 24. On Monday afternoon, Icasa\u2019s acting chairperson Rubben Mohlaloga told reporters that the order was binding. The SABC was given a week to reverse its decision.<\/p>\n
On Monday however, SABC bosses remained defiant.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo on is going to tell us what to do,\u201d Motsoeneng said.<\/p>\n
Journalists, civil society organisations, and members of the public protested outside the SABC\u2019s offices in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg on July 1. Three SABC employees were served with suspension letters two weeks prior, after they disagreed with an instruction during a diary conference not to cover the Right2Know campaign\u2019s protest against censorship at the SABC.<\/p>\n
Three other employees were charged with \u201cliasing with the media\u201d after a letter they penned to Motsoeneng regarding their unhappiness with the editorial policy, was leaked.<\/p>\n
The trio was charged shortly after acting CEO Jimi Matthews resigned on June 27. In his resignation letter he said the \u201ccorrosive atmosphere\u201d at the SABC had impacted negatively on his moral judgement and made him complicit in decisions he \u201cwas not proud of\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is happening at the SABC is wrong and I can no longer be a part of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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