The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants Jackson Mthembu “to walk the talk” and call “an urgent meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Communications to consider the ongoing crisis at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)”. The party on Tuesday said that while Mthembu‚ the African National Congress (ANC) chief whip in the National Assembly‚ “has been saying one thing to the media‚ he has done nothing to fix the situation where it matters most: in Parliament”.The DA said it had requested a special meeting “to discuss and find solutions for the governance crisis at the SABC caused by COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng”‚ but “this was turned down as not being urgent”.It said its chief whip‚ John Steenhuisen‚ “asked for Jackson Mthembu to support the meeting of the committee‚” but this too “has fallen on deaf ears”.This prompted the opposition party to plan a picket in Plein Street outside Parliament on Tuesday.“The truth is that the ANC simply doesn’t care. Motsoeneng has overseen the degradation of media freedom at the SABC and has consistently and without due regard for the law attempted to capture the public broadcaster to protect the ANC and President (Jacob) Zuma‚” the DA said.Earlier this month‚ Mthembu‚ who also heads the ANC’s sub-committee on communications‚ had appeared to depart from the ruling party’s defence of the embattled broadcaster when he told journalists that the ruling party was distancing itself from the SABC policy banning the coverage of violent protests.Objections to this policy resulted in the suspensions of the “SABC 8”‚ four of whom - journalists Jacques Steenkamp‚ Krivani Pillay‚ Foeta Krige and Suna Venter – were notified by email late on Monday afternoon that they had been dismissed.This was confirmed by trade union Solidarity‚ which is representing them.Said the DA’s Phumzile Van Damme on Monday: “It would appear that the SABC staffers were fired for slighting…Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s fragile ego by allegedly ‘undermining the SABC and the authority of its management’. “It is clear that the wrecking ball that is Hlaudi Motsoeneng is going to continue smashing through the integrity of our country’s public broadcaster and do so‚ with the tacit support of the African National Congress (ANC).”The party will be calling “for the reinstatement of these SABC staffers…and for Parliament’s intervention in the ongoing crisis at the SABC”. ..