SABC bosses were protecting their positions when they decided not to broadcast an advertisement by the Democratic Alliance, party leader Helen Zille said on Saturday.
“They are terrified for their positions because he [president Jacob Zuma] deployed them,” she said in Soweto. “They are protecting Zuma.”
She was speaking to reporters after DA members marched through Soweto over the removal of the advertisement on Saturday.
The advert in question shows the DA’s Gauteng premier candidate and spokesman Mmusi Maimane standing in front of a mirror talking about the current state of the country. He says life today is better than it was 20 years ago and gives credit to great leaders who he believes have taken the country forward.
The SABC did not broadcast the advertisement and gave the DA a letter. In it, SABC acting group CEO Tian Olivier informed the party that it would not be able to broadcast the advert on radio or television as it incited violence. The SABC said the party could submit an amended version of the advertisement.
Zille said the reasons provided were ridiculous and it would be approaching communications regulator Icasa about the matter.
“Since when was the SABC chief censor? We have never received a complaint from Icasa,” she said, adding that her party upheld all of Icasa’s codes. — Sapa
