‘Our enemies will find us unafraid‚’ vow axed SABC journalists

21 July 2016 - 14:54 By Roxanne Henderson

Reversing the South African Broadcasting Corporation's (SABC) controversial censorship policy is only one part of the problem solved‚ some of the public broadcaster's former journalists have said. Thandeka Gqubule and Busisiwe Ntuli‚ who were sacked by the SABC this week along with Foeta Krige‚ Lukhanyo Calata‚ Suna Venter‚ Krivani Pillay‚ Vuyo Mvoko and Jacques Steenkamp‚ were speaking after Labour Court proceedings on Thursday morning.Trade union Solidarity’s case challenging the SABC's decision to dismiss Steenkamp‚ Krige‚ Pillay and Venter was postponed because legal counsel for the SABC was not prepared to proceed. Solidarity head Dirk Hermann had said that the SABC's protest footage ban was unlawful – as confirmed by a high court on Wedensday - and that any decisions stemming from it‚ like the dismissal of its journalists‚ must also be unlawful. Gqubule and Ntuli‚ who are not party to the Labour Court proceedings but attended in support of their colleagues‚ said that their application for direct access to the Constitutional Court was the only way to stop their former employer's path of censorship and anti-journalistic practices.“Our enemies will find us unafraid. We are going all the way‚” Gqubule said.“You see the protest policy is only a sliver of the slew of policies and draconian anti-journalistic practices [at the SABC]. You can withdraw the protest policy but still have an environment that is not conducive to practising ethical journalism.“It's a bit of a tryst with the devil. We don't see how the striking down of the policy alone can solve the problems of the corrosive environment and the other forms of censorship‚ the myriad of other forms of censorship‚ that continue to prevail.”Ntuli said that recent gains made‚ referring the urgent court interdict granted to the Helen Suzman Foundation in Pretoria on Wednesday‚ barring the SABC from implementing its violent protest footage ban‚ were not enough.“The issue for us is about the [Constitutional] court making sure that our freedom of expression is entrenched. Today it may be a protest policy that is being debated. Tomorrow it may be something else. So we saying we want none of that to happen ever again.”Hermann had harsh words for the SABC's apparent disrespect for the court when it failed to brief its legal team ahead of the hearing scheduled for Thursday.“This conduct of the SABC is in line with the conduct of the past couple of weeks. They simply ignore legal processes. They ignore court processes. It's as if they think that management can actually trump legal processes and principles.“It's also exactly the same conduct that led to the dismissal of journalists without any hearing – ignoring legal processes‚ ignoring legal principles‚” he said.On July 11‚ the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) found that the SABC's policy banning footage of violent protests on its news outlets is unlawful and ordered the broadcaster to rectify it.Though the SABC had indicated that it would challenge this decision‚ it has now agreed to adhere to Icasa's ruling.News anchor Ivor Price‚ who this week announced his resignation from the SABC‚ citing chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng's “venomous tentacles” in his reason for leaving‚ also joined joined his colleagues in court on Thursday.“My colleagues aren't trying to be martyrs for press freedom. They don't like being on the front pages of newspapers. They are asking merely for the right to work‚” Price said.He added that the South African public has shown all the affected SABC journalists great support.A crowd-funding initiative this week has seen over R360 000 in donation pledges being made to support the dismissed journalists. TMG Digital..

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