SABC news anchor Ivor Price resigns‚ cites Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s 'venomous tentacles'

19 July 2016 - 19:10 By TMG Digital

Ivor Price‚ TV news anchor on SABC2 and presenter and producer with Afrikaans radio station RSG‚ has gone public with his resignation from the SABC. This is a second resignation at the SABC following the clampdown on dissent at the broadcaster. Head of news Jimi Matthews resigned last month. Price announced on Twitter that he has resigned from the public broadcaster and said he would not do any interviews on the matter. Price shared a timeline of events at the SABC that led to his resignation with Netwerk24. In May this year‚ Price said‚ he did not enjoy going to work any more‚ because “dark clouds were starting to gather”.Since then he’s seen his colleagues being suspended and fired.By the end of June‚ he said‚ “more and more SABC journalists started saying they didn’t want to touch SABC-related stories any more‚ because they had too much to lose”‚ though RSG was trying to report news about events at the SABC without fear or favour.He handed in his resignation on June 30‚ the day when journalists protested outside the SABC’s offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town – having already accepted another job offer.His last day at the SABC is on August 5.“(SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi) Motsoeneng’s venomous tentacles have the entire public broadcaster in their grip‚" he said."Even if he resigns tomorrow or is fired‚ it will be a long time before good journalists will get over the incapacitating fear.”When he saw the news of his colleagues being dismissed this week‚ he “could no longer remain silent”...

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