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The Democratic Alliance (DA) has repeatedly raised its concerns with the Communications Minister, Siphiwe Nyanda, over his and the Department's recent attempts to micro-manage the functioning of the sector in which they operate - such as the Minister's recent decision to issue instructions to the independent regulator, ICASA, demanding that it lower the cost of interconnection. The gazetting of the Draft Public Service Broadcasting Bill by the Department this past weekend is yet another attempt by the Minister to stick his nose where it does not belong. Parliament only recently submitted its recommendation for the new SABC board appointments to the President. The board should be given time to do its job before the minister starts interfering. Instead of concerning himself with his own mandate, which is principally to draft and publish communications policies - an area which is sorely lacking in the communications portfolio because of the policy vacuum left by Nyanda's predecessor, the late Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri - the Minister seems to believe it more appropriate to usurp the functions of the various organs which fall under his Department, and execute their mandate himself. Nyanda has wasted no time in capitalising on the financial woes at the SABC in order to justify increased state intervention in the running of the public broadcaster. Earlier this year, his ANC colleagues at Luthuli House and in the National Assembly did the very same when they used the crisis at the broadcaster to justify their elimination of a perceived "Mbeki-aligned" Board, and the installation of a body more in tune with the wants of the new ANC elite under President Jacob Zuma. Now the Minister would have the South African public believe that the solution to the problems of financial mismanagement and lack of good governance at the SABC, which led to the current crisis, can be addressed by giving him and the government more power to intervene in the running of the public broadcaster - which the Minister seems to want to turn into another branch of the government, or a state broadcaster in the mould of the SABC under apartheid. The Draft Bill's proposal of 1% tax levy to fund the public mandate of the SABC has rightly caused an outcry, not only because the public is being asked to foot the bill for bad management and inefficiency at the SABC - as with so many other state-owned entities like SAA and the Land Bank, where senior appointments have depended more on political alignment than on fitness for the purpose of executing the job at hand - but also because it is being asked to finance an enterprise which is perfectly capable of running efficiently and generating its own profit with which to fund its public mandate - as was the case under the tenure of former-Group CEO, Peter Matlare. The present crisis thus acts as a convenient and timely fig-leaf for the new ANC-elite to cover up its attempts to seize control of the SABC - which is supposed to belong to all South Africans; not just those who voted for the governing party - and use it as a tool to help advance its own political agenda. Some of the provisions of the Bill which seek fundamentally to undermine the SABC's constitutionally-enshrined independence include:
• The Minister's stated intention, listed under the objects of the Act, "to align the broadcasting services to the developmental goals of the Republic" - a direct reference to the ANC's famed "developmental state" and an explicit indication of the intention to render the SABC more a state broadcaster than a public broadcaster;
• The proposal to add an "International Broadcasting Service Division" to the SABC's operations, one of whose objectives would be "to promote South Africa's foreign policy" - this also represents an attempt to undermine the independence of the broadcaster and turn it into another organ of state;
• The proposal that Community Broadcasting Services be required to "forge partnership[s] with local municipalities as a locus of development" - this seeks to devolve the principal of turning the SABC into a government organ right down to the sphere of local government - it is worth considering how different the coverage by community media of the recent service delivery protests might be if these "partnerships" were currently in force;
Lastly, Chapter 9 of the Bill makes provision for a slew of ministerial "interventions" and prerogatives, which would give Minister Nyanda wide-ranging powers to interfere in a number of operational and regulatory matters through, amongst others, the issuing of directives and levying of penalties should the SABC be found to be "unable to perform its functions as prescribed in this Act"; the establishment of advisory bodies at his own discretion which are accountable only to him; and the issuing of instructions and deadlines to the SABC Board if it is deemed, for example, "unable to perform its functions effectively". The Save our SABC Coalition and others in the sector have voices their concerns about the very short length of time which has been allocated for submissions and public comment on this draft legislation - the current deadline for public comment is 7 December 2009. The DA will be petitioning the Minister for an extension of this deadline to enable thorough consultation on this very crucial piece of proposed legislation.