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SABC Bill furore shows how desperate the ANC is to control the broadcaster

SABC Bill furore shows how desperate the ANC is to control the broadcaster
SOS Coalition and Media Monitoring Africa
By SOS Coalition and Media Monitoring Africa
14 Nov 2024
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This fight is so vicious and testy because some in the ANC are desperate to finally wrest back control of the SABC before the next sets of elections. We call on Minister Solly Malatsi to stand his ground and withdraw the SABC Bill.

The future of the SABC Bill has erupted into an almighty political row that reveals the tensions (and strengths) of the Government of National Unity (GNU).

In the dying days of the last administration, the SABC Bill was approved by the Cabinet and introduced in Parliament by the immediate past Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Mondli Gungubele.

Despite the then governing party desperately wanting it to be passed before the May 2024 national elections, Parliament’s legal advisers told Parliament’s communications and digital technologies committee that there were significant constitutional problems with the Bill, and it did not proceed.

In September, public hearings took place on the SABC Bill in the committee.

They made for interesting watching as organisation after organisation, from civil society (for example the SOS: Support Public Broadcasting Coalition with Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef), industry players (from the National Association of Broadcasters to MultiChoice) to the actual broadcasting regulator (Icasa) essentially told the Portfolio Committee that the Bill was unworkable, unconstitutional and, perhaps more damning, a rehash of the SABC model that had been a failure for a quarter of a century and counting.

On Sunday, media reports began to circulate that the new Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi, of the DA, had, (sensibly in our view) withdrawn the fatally flawed SABC Bill. Industry watchers heaved a sigh of relief.

Backlash


It seems that was short-lived. Almost immediately the backlash began. The Portfolio Committee’s Chair, Khusela Diko, issued a statement that same day accusing Minister Malatsi of “trigger-happy action” that would “sound the death knell of the SABC” because it would “delay the implementation of crucial reforms”.

But Diko, crucially and correctly, did acknowledge that “as the executive authority, the Minister may rescind the Bill for whatever reason before its second reading in the house”. It is clear that others in the ANC do not have as good a working knowledge of the law.

One such is the current Minister in the Presidency (and herself a former Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies) Khumbudzo Ntshaveni, who gave a press conference after Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting in which, according to press reports, she sharply upbraided Malatsi, saying he “had no authority to withdraw the SABC Bill” and “should have gone through Cabinet” before making his withdrawal announcement.

She is said to have stated that the final decision on the withdrawal of the SABC Bill would be taken at next week’s Cabinet meeting.

So what is the truth of the matter? Did a new minister from DA haplessly overstep his powers and does Cabinet have to approve the withdrawal of an introduced Bill?

In short, no.

This issue is governed by the Constitution and by the Rules of the National Assembly.

Section 85(2)(d) of the Constitution makes it clear that the Executive (the President and other members of Cabinet) exercises its authority “by preparing and initiating legislation”.

Rule 271(a) of the Rules of the National Assembly makes it clear that Cabinet approval is required for the ministerial introduction of a Bill in the National Assembly. However, the rules do not require Cabinet approval for the withdrawal of a Bill by the relevant minister.

Rule 277 of the Rules of the National Assembly clearly states that if a Cabinet member (ie a minister) “decides not to proceed with the introduction of a Bill the member must without delay inform the Speaker in writing of the decision”.

It is common cause that Minister Malatsi did inform the Speaker. Indeed the only limit on a minister’s discretion to withdraw a Bill is contained in Rule 334 of the Rules of the National Assembly which provides that the person in charge of a Bill introduced in the Assembly (in this case Minister Malatsi) “may withdraw the Bill at any time before the Second Reading of the Bill is decided”. Again, it is common cause that the Second Reading of the Bill has not yet taken place.

So what is the fight about? Is it really about the arcane provisions of the Rules of the National Assembly (which clearly favour the minister) and will the minister’s withdrawal of the SABC Bill really delay the implementation of crucial reforms necessary to save the SABC, as alleged by communications and digital technologies committee Chair Diko?

The answer to both questions is no, not at all.

Battle for control


This fight is so vicious and testy because some in the ANC are desperate to finally wrest back control over the SABC before the next sets of elections (local government in the next two or so years and then national and provincial government in five years).

Make no mistake, the governing party lost its majority in spectacular fashion in May, suffering a defeat that no one in the ANC really thought possible. It is clear that it is anxious about doing worse in the next set of elections, finding itself possibly locked out of any role in key local government metros.

The Botswana election results and massive political turmoil unfolding in Mozambique will not be helping.

The SABC Bill aims to bring large swathes of the SABC – its commercial services – back under direct government control through vetoes at board level and in certain operational matters. These provisions are, of course, entirely unlawful as our high court has already ruled in previous cases in which the minister tried to interfere in the workings of the SABC Board.

Worse, the SABC Bill goes backwards in respect of editorial independence, taking the editor-in-chief position away from the head of news and giving it back to the CEO, a state of affairs much criticised by Parliament itself in its review of the previous era of State Capture of the SABC.

Absent ‘crucial reforms’


And what of the much-vaunted “crucial reforms” that the minister is alleged to be bulleting by his withdrawal of the SABC Bill? The bottom line is that this has been the biggest failing of the SABC Bill. There aren’t any crucial reforms.

The single biggest problem facing the SABC is the unfunded public mandate. What crucial reform does the Bill introduce? It provides that the minister is to develop a “funding model framework”, that is, not even an actual workable funding model, within three years. No one thinks that the SABC can continue along its present trajectory for three years while a funding model framework is being hatched.

The only reasonable conclusion to be drawn is that some within the ANC are scared and angry about the withdrawal of the SABC Bill because they see the party being robbed of a powerful potential mouthpiece and propaganda organ when they most need to control political messaging to the masses – in the next two sets of elections.

But the public interest, as the 17 public submissions on the Bill have elucidated, requires the immediate withdrawal of the Bill and urgent work on building on the many excellent proposals for the SABC contained in the first iteration of the draft white paper to be finalised in an SABC Bill that does, truly, contain crucial reforms for the SABC.

Certainly, there isn’t a single crucial reform in this SABC Bill. Instead, it is, as all public submissions pointed out to Parliament, a restatement of the failed policies adopted over a quarter of a century ago and which has brought the public broadcaster to breaking point.

Rehash of failed policies


So Minister Malatsi is not wrong – the Bill is a rehash of failed policies and the rest of it is an unconstitutional attempt to turn the SABC back into a state broadcaster.

We call on the minister to stand his ground and withdraw the SABC Bill. 

Then, we call on the minister to urgently review short-term measures submitted by the current and previous SABC Boards that can help address the SABC’s precarious finances.

We call on Parliament to invite public submissions and hold hearings on short-term options to help the SABC address its financial position.

We call on the minister to then urgently conduct research on possible funding models for the SABC by reviewing international practice.

Finally, the minister needs to work tirelessly to get before Parliament a truly public-interest-oriented, workable Bill that funds the SABC’s unfunded public mandate to render it sustainable. DM

The SOS Coalition is a member-based public broadcasting network that campaigns for democratic media and broadcasting, as well as excellent programming by the public broadcaster to serve the public interest.

Media Monitoring Africa acts as a watchdog to promote ethical and fair journalism which supports human rights. We promote democracy and a culture where the media and the powerful respect human rights to encourage a just and fair society.

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