The Democratic Alliance has asked the ANC to reconsider its decision not to call an urgent meeting of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications to discuss the current crisis at the SABC and to demand answers from the Minister and the SABC leadership.A request by the DA’s chief whip‚ John Steenhuisen‚ to his counterpart in the ANC‚ Jackson Mthembu‚ last week for such a meeting was turned down because the ANC said it was not urgent enough and could wait until Parliament reconvened after the local government elections on August 3.“This cannot be accepted. The crisis at the SABC is only escalating‚ with more journalists having received charges and with mass action planned for tomorrow.There have also been revelations over the weekend that the SABC leadership have deliberately chosen to provide biased coverage of the ANC ahead of the election‚” Steenhuisen said on Tuesday.He said the current actions of the SABC senior management were an affront to the basic freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution‚ and that the reports of biased political party coverage were a serious risk to free and fair elections.“I have thus today written again to Hon Mthembu to urge him to reconsider his position on this and to urgently convene a meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Communications under National Assembly (NA) Rule 223.“I call on the ANC Chief Whip to take leadership at this time and ensure that Parliament intervenes in this situation as a matter of urgency‚” Steenhuisen stated.For Parliament to fail to make use of this Rule in this instance‚ when the urgent nature of the matter could not be denied‚ would be an indictment on this institution and would‚ in the view of the DA‚ be a failure by Parliament to provide oversight in protection of the constitutional rights of our citizens‚ he added...