Various opposition parties are petitioning President Kgalema Motlanthe to send the Broadcasting Amendment Bill back to Parliament.

"The Democratic Alliance [on Tuesday] sent a letter and legal opinion to President Motlanthe asking him to decline to assent to the Broadcasting Amendment Bill on two constitutional grounds," DA spokeswoman Dene Smuts said.

The bill was approved by Parliament last week in the face of dissent from most of the opposition parties.

The bill makes it possible for Parliament to fire either individuals on the SABC board or the board as a whole.

Smuts said the proposed dissolution of the SABC board without due inquiry offended against the Constitution's section 33 right to fair administrative action.

In addition, the proposed dissolution was destructive of the security of tenure without which the board did not enjoy the independence which enabled it to protect its editorial divisions in exercising the constitutional guarantee of free speech and media freedom.

"The bill's proposed interim board, to be installed without any of the transparent public participatory process which normally applies, is likewise destructive of independence and therefore of media freedom.

"The public should have no illusions as to why the Broadcasting Amendment Bill proposes the dissolution of the SABC board without inquiry, and the installation of a hand-picked team of five.

"It is because the SABC board is in fact performing quite well, and will not be found lacking if any proper procedure is followed, and because the ruling faction of the governing party wants to control political coverage during the upcoming general election," Smuts said.

Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder also sent a letter to Motlanthe on Tuesday.

"It has to be seen against the backdrop of the current infighting in the ANC where the SABC board is seen as being pro- [former president Thabo] Mbeki, which now has to be replaced by a pro- [ANC president Jacob] Zuma board," he said.

Among the objections to the bill was that it did not provide for a fair administrative process or hearing before the board was fired.

However, the Constitution provided that: "Everyone has the right to administrative action which is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair".

Mulder said the SABC had a news monopoly in South Africa in all languages apart from English.

"With this amendment the government will hold a permanent sword to fire them over the heads of the SABC board if the SABC does not act according to the will of the government,"

An independent public broadcaster was just as important for a mature democracy as an independent judiciary.

The bill clearly had the objective to make the public broadcaster, so shortly before an election, a state broadcaster.

"This is a very serious issue and the President should not sign this bill," Mulder said.