Cutting of Sakina Kamwendo's radio show amounts to media censorship: Sanef

The cutting of veteran talk show host Sakina Kamwendo's radio show was nothing short of media censorship‚ the SA National Editors Forum says.

Taking to their Twitter account on Saturday‚ the group said: "Sanef has noted that it is certainly the prerogative of SABC management to make decisions about programming. However‚ we believe this incident with Kamwendo was extremely poorly handled and smacks of censorship!"

"Kamwendo should have been given the space to explain to her listeners what had transpired with her show & with the termination of her time as the shows host."

Sanef intended to consult with the SABC to address the matter.

According to reports‚ the veteran radio talk show host was busy presenting her breakfast show Forum at Eight on SAfm when the producers were instructed to take her off the air.

The show was cut halfway through the allotted hour‚ with music played for the remainder of the time.

But the SABC's executive management says it too is still trying to establish what happened.

They have requested a full report on the incident.

In a statement on Saturday‚ the public broadcaster expressed its concern about the incident.

“The executive management has requested for a full report on the incident and will engage all involved to get the facts on what really happened and why‚” it said.

“It is also important to deal with the perception that Ms Sakina Kamwendo’s contract with the SABC has been terminated. Prior to the programme yesterday (Friday)‚ she was engaged by news management on a new slot on SAfm and both parties have signed a new contract to that effect. The process that was followed with Ms Kamwendo is the same for all on-air personalities‚” the statement read.

“The SABC executive management will always allow management at the different levels to make decisions in line with their delegated responsibilities and commit to deal with this matter in a fair and transparent manner in the interest of the SABC and the public of South Africa‚” the broadcaster added.