Issued by: South African Broadcasting Corporation
NEWS RELEASE BY THE BOARD OF THE SABC
The Board of the SABC held its last monthly meeting for the year today. In the interest of transparency and accountability, the following decisions taken by the Board are hereby being publicised.
Carole Lane
It has come to the attention of the SABC that one of its news reporters based in Durban, Ms Carole Lane, has been called as a state witness in the court case involving General Magnus Malan and others, in her capacity as Police Reservist at the time of the incidents being investigated by the Court. In light of a clear editorial conflict of interest, the Board has approved a recommendation from Management that Ms Lane be asked to take leave from her duties with immediate effect, pending the outcome of an internal investigation into the matter. The investigation will also cover the conduct of management and other staff members in this regard, and will take place as soon as possible. In addition, an internal Board Committee of Enquiry into Past Activities of SABC Staff Members will be reactivated with the aim of clearing the air in this regard once and for all, Corporation-wide.
Relaunch of 3 TV-channels in February next year
Plans to relaunch the SABC's three terrestrial television channels on the 4th of February next year are proceeding well. The three channels will be known as SABC 1, SABC 2 and SABC 3. Although all three channels will accommodate all 11 official languages, SABC 1 (utilising the current CCV-signal) will broadcast in the Nguni Languages during prime time (i.e. Zulu, Xhosa, siSwati and Ndebele), SABC 2 (utilising the current TV1-signal) will broadcast in Afrikaans and Sotho during prime time (i.e. Afrikaans, Setswana, Sepedi, North Sotho and South Sotho), and SABC 3 (utilising the current NNTV-signal) will broadcast in English during prime time. The perception that has been created by certain print media that the Afrikaans language will be severely disadvantaged by this new arrangement, is wrong. Firstly, Afrikaans will go out on the channel with by fare the largest "footprint" of all the channels. In other words, more people will be able to access Afrikaans. Secondly, percentages of air-time per langauge as presented by certain news papers recently, do not take account of the fact overnight services sourced from abroad are necessarily in English. However, Afrikaans material locally sourced will also be carried outside of prime time. Thirdly, and most importantly, Afrikaans is being treated equally to all other indigenous languages by the SABC.
SABC Board Policies
The Board is currently finalising policy in the following areas: Programming, Commissioning, Research, Training and Sponsorship. Policy on Tendering Procedures was ratified at this Board meeting. Policy in the following areas had been finalised earlier this year: Educational Broadcasting, Language, Affirmative Action, Religious Broadcasting and Sexual Harassment. These new policies will see major changes in the way that the SABC operates. For instance, small and medium enterprises, as well as previously excluded groups such as blacks and women, will be given preference when it comes to awarding tenders. In this way, the Board is expecting its efforts at transforming the SABC to be speeded-up.
Released by: SABC Board Chairperson, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri.
Enquiries: Desmond Thompson, Board Media Liaison Officer: Tel (011) 714-3019 Pager (011) 804-2777 code 76920 Fax (011) 714-5225