SABC; worth protecting in spite of abuse – Ed Herbst

The true value of an independent, well-run, cost-effective public broadcaster has never been better illustrated than in Wynand Harmse's book, "SABC 1936-1995." That title alone should give you some inkling that this is not an exposé of political shenanigans, though it doesn't side-step this perennial issue, but rather a serious treatise that attempts to truly reflect what the broadcaster was about over 82 years of existence. Here Ed Herbst, who devoted most of his professional career to working in SABC radio and television, reviews Harmse's book from a privileged perspective. The broadcaster achieved some remarkable world firsts, a country-wide FM radio network being one. Perhaps the most pertinent reason for its existence, South Africa's absence of a reading culture in the majority of the population, regardless of (woeful) literacy levels, the relatively low levels of education and general knowledge and the dire need for inter-cultural and inter-race conversations, are far too often missed. We're too fond of picturing the SABC as forever His Master's Voice (or shall we say that of whichever political party happens to be ruling), that we forget the major benefits it offers, and the stalwarts that manned the ramparts of professionalism. – Chris Bateman.A welcome history of SA broadcasting.By Ed Herbst*.In September 1993, after the ANC had gained control of the SABC, the late Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri was interviewed by Mark Gevisser for a Mail & Guardian article which was headlined 'Moving up to the Ivy League'. She was chairperson of the SABC board at the time..It contained the following reference to the former management team: ."… she has experienced neither racism nor sexism in the corridors of Auckland Park. 'It's true', she concedes. 'I am black and female and I am small and all these towering white men aren't used to a small black woman being in a position of authority. But I find that the people of the SABC are very polite to me. You know, there are many values that Afrikaners share with African people – like a respect for education.'".That team was led by Wynand Harmse who, for the last seven years of a 32-year career, was Group Chief Executive at the SABC. He headhunted his successor, Zwelakhe Sisulu, and ushered in a brief period of progress and promise which the late Allister Sparks aptly described as the public broadcaster's 'Prague Spring'..Harmse's managerial talents were obvious from the beginning and at 29 he was promoted to Head of Finance, the youngest person to hold that position in the pre-1994 dispensation and, aged 40, he joined the top management team as Director: Finance and Administration..In April 1988 he became Group Chief Executive and it was his responsibility to guide the SABC through the tumultuous years that followed..Harmse has written a stellar and definitive history of broadcasting in this country, SABC 1936 – 1995 – Still a key player … or an endangered species which has been published by Naledi in English and Afrikaans..He covers the first 59 years of the SABC from its establishment by Act of Parliament in 1936 until he retired in 1994, although he was retained by the new regime as a consultant for several years..Political role .Much of the book is devoted to the political role played by the SABC, the extent to which it supported apartheid and the difficulties it faced in the transition period..He is unequivocal in acknowledging the role that the most powerful communication medium in the country played in buttressing apartheid:.From the early 1960's, opposition to Apartheid emerged within the Afrikaners' own ranks as many writers, artists and musicians seriously questioned Apartheid. The distressing reality is that the SABC ignored them..Self-censorship was the order of the day in the 1980s and Harmse cites the head of news at the time, Johan Pretorius, who quotes two obvious examples – the way in which the SABC ignored the growing evidence of corruption related to the Info Scandal and the founding of the The Citizen newspaper up to and including the decision not to broadcast the decisive media conference of Judge Anton Mostert. The news of South Africa's invasion of Angola in 1975 was also suppressed. A third example was the way in which the SABC ignored the founding congress of the United Democratic Front in 1983 which was attended by 6000 people and was addressed by Dr Allan Boesak among others..The reality was that debates about the future participants (including Blacks) from across the entire political spectrum were not feasible before February 1990. It could, in fact, have been illegal. In the late 1980s, selective political debates did occur between Whites, but only from the ranks of parliamentarians..Harmse argues that, for this to happen, would have required an entirely different SABC Board composition. This was the intention of the public broadcasting concept, a concept which was not implemented at the time..The closer the country came to a political transition, the greater the pressure on the SABC – from all sides of the political divide – became..Mandela release.This was most evident in the SABC's coverage of the release of Nelson Mandela..I joined the SABC's television news staff in 1977 as a reporter and was based at its Sea Point offices in Cape Town when Mandela was released from prison on 11 February 1990..The SABC was the official broadcaster covering the release and Ted Koppel, presenter for the ABC News' programme Nightline, based himself on the roof of the Sea Point building. .His opinion of the SABC's coverage was not flattering but, as Harmse recounts in this book, the National Party under Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee wanted to restrict coverage of the event to the minimum..The Government, represented by Minister Kobie Coetzee, wanted the event to receive as little publicity as possible and he consequently kept information vague and close to his chest. The SABC was informed that the release would not be worth broadcasting as "it would only last about five minutes"..Initially Coetzee's demand was that a direct recording be provided for the international audience only and that an edited programme be provided for the South African public at a later date..Andre le Roux, who was in charge of the news broadcast fought for a live broadcast 'and won the argument.'.Andre relates how he tried at length and persistently to make contact with Coetzee and waited in vain for promised calls: and consequently could only start the finer arrangements on the Saturday afternoon (the day before). A roadblock was set up early on the Sunday morning which delayed a frustrated SABC team for hours..Released from these strictures, the SABC provided exemplary coverage of the April 1994 election and the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela with the iconic footage being broadcast throughout the world. .What resonated with me was Harmse's accounts of the pressures senior executives faced from across the political spectrum after the unbanning of the ANC in February 1990..Magisterial book.This is a stand-alone and magisterial book on the history of broadcasting in this country, part of a legacy of which Harmse is justifiably proud and it is instructive to reflect on what happened after he left..I emailed Harmse and asked him what the SABC's financial position was at the time of his departure. Here is his answer:.SABC's Annual Report for 1994 reflects the following: (as at end of book year 30 Sept 1994):.Cash resources/investments – R228m.Loans R77m.Debtors exceeded Creditors.The Loan-burden represented 10% of fixed/capital assets. Thus a ratio of 90% own funding (in-house) and 10% foreign.Operational surplus of R100m. (rounded off)No State funding except for External Radio, which is in line with financing of such services elsewhere in world..After the departure of Harmse and his chosen successor, Zwelakhe Sisulu, the decline of the SABC in a country where merit had become anathema to the governing party, the decline occasioned by its illegal cadre deployment policy was swift..(As an example compare the academic record of Professor Christo Viljoen, the chairman of the SABC board in the Harmse era and one of Harmse's successors, Ellen Tshabalala, a very close friend of Jacob Zuma.).In November 2009 Communications Minister, Siphiwe Nyanda announced that Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan had approved the SABC's application for a R1.5bn bailout..Ten years later, the SABC desperately needs another taxpayer-funded bailout of close to R7bn which the current minister, an apparatchik of note who eviscerated the SABC board of its independent thinkers, seems to be deliberately withholding. .The pressures that the National Party brought to bear on the SABC in the Harmse era have not changed..Furthermore, the ANC has, for two decades ruthlessly gerrymandered the composition of the SABC board. Despite the fact that Afrikaans is spoken as a second language by more South Africans than any other and lies third behind Zulu and Xhosa as the most spoken language in the country, there has been no Afrikaans representation on the board for years – this notwithstanding the enormous advertising contribution the Afrikaans business community makes to the commercial viability of the public broadcaster..The most important elements which the SABC inherited from Harmse and his colleagues were modern and well-maintained broadcasting facilities and the expertise of long-term staffers and its archive was a treasure trove of South African audio and visual history..Diesel deluge.After the ANC takeover, preventative maintenance was effectively abandoned, witness the recent diesel deluge at the Auckland Park headquarters of the SABC and the archive was sold..(In 2014 Hlaudi Motsoeneng suspended and then dismissed the SABC's head of technology, Sipho Msinga after he authored a damning report saying that it would cost the SABC R2bn to resolve two decades of equipment and building neglect and the failure to invest in new technology.).Equally pernicious, was the purge of competent staff, black and white, simply because they had joined the public broadcaster before 1994 and it was thus assumed that they would be opposed to the endemic plunder, and the golden handshakes and the propaganda and the censorship-by-omission that were to come..Harmse writes:.Control of news is always the first aspect that is considered in any power play. The first step of the new dispensation, virtually immediately after the election, was to replace the head of news, Johan Pretorius. It was an instruction to me from the Board. Senior Black journalists, like Mandla Msibi and Mike Nxasana of the two African language TV services, soon discovered they were not welcome either. Even though they were Black they were seen as "puppets" (according to the ANC) of the old dispensation. Later the Black heads of the various Black radio and TV services were replaced with inexperienced cadres. .The ANC then brought in cadres like Snuki Zikalala and Hlaudi Motsoeneng and deployed to the board acolytes like Christine Qunta, a co-signatory in full page newspaper advertisements (something which never happened in the Harmse era) lauding President Thabo Mbeki's for his policies and Thami Mazwai who decried Western and liberal views on media freedom..Typically lustful.Thereafter, the looting became typically lustful, as it did in all ANC-controlled entities – ask Ace Magashule, he'll tell you..Ethical broadcasters left in increasing numbers as people like Max du Preez, Jacques Pauw, Anneliese Burgess and John Perlman were either driven out or found the situation untenable and resigned..What was equally telling for me was the way staff were treated after Harmse and Sisulu left..In 2004 an attempt to deprive SABC pensioners of their rights was described by a High Court judge as "distasteful, unacceptable and dishonest"..In 2008 the SABC hired bodyguards to protect Elsje Oosthuizen, its head of internal audits. Her life was threatened after she started investigating high-ranking individuals – such as Dali Mpofu's Elephant Consortium crony for bribery and corruption – and she resigned after her home was firebombed..Murder attempts.A more recent memory was the death of Suna Venter, after several attempts were made to murder her..Nothing remotely like this happened prior to 1994 and one of the most obvious differences between the two eras was Hlaudi Motsoeneng sauntering around the Auckland Park building surrounded by bodyguards. If you had suggested to Wynand Harmse when he ran the SABC with grace and efficiency that he needed bodyguards, he would justifiably have regarded you as certifiable..Harmse fervently believes that the SABC, with its 22 radio services and four TV channels broadcasting in all the country's languages, has an even more critical role now in assisting the country to achieve its goals than it did a quarter of a century ago..Correctly enabled it can enhance democracy by creating an informed society through in-depth and background actuality programmes and it is the institution best-positioned to do that..All that is required is the political will..In 1992 Cyril Ramaphosa said of the SABC:.The ANC is committed to public broadcasting which is independent of the government of the day, and which owes its loyalty not to any party, but to the population as a whole. In other words, we propose a broadcast service committed to providing full and accurate information to all South Africans, and one which is protected from interference by any special interests – be they political, economic or cultural..For that ideal to be realised would necessitate people like Wynand Harmse joining the public broadcaster in numbers..If such people were valued by Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri in the early 1990's, they would be even more valued and are even more needed now..That possibility seems remote – but at least we have his 488-page meticulously-researched and fascinating memoir as a testimony to what might have been..Ed Herbst is a veteran journalist who these days writes in his own capacity.

SABC; worth protecting in spite of abuse – Ed Herbst

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