All eight suspended SABC journalists now fired

Hlaudi Motsoeneng. Picture: Gallo Images
The fight is now set to continue all the way to the Constitutional Court.
The SABC has fired the remaining four journalists who were either suspended or faced charges last month, eNCA has reported.
Disciplinary charges had been laid against Special Assignment executive producer Busisiwe Ntuli‚ SAfm current affairs executive producer Krivani Pillay and senior investigative reporter Jacques Steenkamp‚ who sent a letter to Motsoeneng raising their “displeasure and increasing concern” over recent developments at the public broadcaster.

Last night Foeta Krige, Suna Venter, Pillay and Steenkamp received news of their dismissals. The remaining four suspended journalists were told the same thing on Tuesday. eNCA reported that at least five of them would approach the Labour Court for recourse.


Venter told News24 that they would continue their fight in the Constitutional Court.

The journalists were reportedly targeted by the public broadcaster for questioning increasingly draconian editorial policies driven largely by chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

Their lawyer, an attorney for Solidarity, told News24 that he and the group were “devastated” by the decision. He said the gloves would now be off.

Their lawyer has said in a statement that they refused to “apply censorship”.

On Sunday a report by City Press said that suspended journalists had alleged that SABC chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng instructed them that President Jacob Zuma should not be questioned in the same way as other public figures, among other allegations of editorial interference by Motsoeneng.

City Press reported that it had also seen a letter from the SABC to regulator Icasa informing it that the SABC did not intend to abide by Icasa’s ruling against it when it came to the banning of violent protest footage. The SABC reportedly said it would continue as usual until it was given “additional information”.

It reported that the SABC is questioning the powers of the Icasa subcommittee that made the finding and whether proper processes were followed.

According to Icasa, its ruling needed to be obeyed by Monday (18 July), or the SABC would be considered in breach of its mandate and licence. The regulator would then be entitled to consider “remedies” and “penalties”.

The SABC has remained determined to approach the courts for relief over last week’s Icasa ruling that ordered the public broadcaster to withdraw its resolution to no longer broadcast footage of destruction of public property during protests.

SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago told The Citizen on Sunday that Monday’s deadline was “for us to tell them whether we are going to comply or not and we have already said we are going to review the matter. I’m not sure if the letter [to Icasa] has been sent, but the decision is public,” said Kganyago.

“Then, after that, the court process is a different process altogether. All we are going to do is communicate formally, because it was made public that we are [going to petition the courts],” Kganyago said.

In a letter to Icasa’s complaints and compliance committee (CCC) last week, the SABC’s attorney, Titus Mchunu, stated “the judgment made available to us appears to constitute [only] a recommendation from the council of Icasa”.