On Tuesday, 26 July, R2K KZN in partnership with other organisations will be marching to the SABC offices in Durban.

We are marching to highlight our concerns regarding the current crisis at the SABC. As members of the public who rely heavily on the SABC as our news source we refuse to remain silent while bad decisions are taken on our behalf.  We are also marching in support of the eight dismissed SABC employees who challenged censorship at the public broadcaster.

We strongly condemn the continuous victimization of staff who dare question unethical editorial decisions. SABC COO, Hlaudi Motsoeneng must stop treating the SABC as his own private entity to please those who are in power. It is a public broadcaster that is supposed to serve the people. As South Africans, we cannot afford to remain silent while unconstitutional decisions that contravene the objectives of the Broadcasting Act are being implemented.

We demand:

• The reinstatement of all the journalists who have been fired for being brave citizens and refusing to undermine the credibility and integrity of our SABC.
• We demand that the SABC’s illegally revised editorial policies be scrapped, and all journalists suspended under SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s edict be reinstated with immediate effect.
• We demand the immediate reversal of all downward editorial decisions premised on the unlawfully revised editorial policy.
• We demand that Motsoeneng is sacked from the SABC, in keeping with the Public Protector’s recommendations and the Western Cape High Court’s judgment which found his appointment to be “irrational” and, therefore, unlawful in the first place.
• We demand that the lame-duck and inquorate SABC Board that has enabled Motsoeneng’s reign of terror and patronage to be reconstituted on an urgent basis.
• We demand that Communications Minister Faith Muthambi is sacked for her delinquency and collusion with Motsoeneng and the SABC Board in unlawfully revising the editorial policies and enabling the continued decay of the SABC.

We will gather at King Dinizulu Park from 9AM and march through Prixley KaSeme to SABC Headquarters where we will hand over the memorandum at 12:30PM. We call on unions, civil society, media workers and members of the public to join us in demanding an end to political interference in the public broadcaster.

For more information contact
Joanne Adams, R2K KZN Organiser: 083 498 1583
Thabane Miya, R2K KZN Coordinator: 072 151 0320
Micah Reddy, R2K MFD Coordinator: 083 297 3444
Bheki Buthelezi, UPM Organiser: 060 457 8971