Snuki Zikala Prefers To Remain Ignorant
The Mail & Guardian have released some excerpts from the report on the blacklisting of political commentators from the SABC by SABC head of news Snuki Zikalala. The excerpts are pretty damning and the fact that the SABC refuses to release the full report while claiming that no blacklisting was present is really an indication of how embarassing it is to them that they’re trying their best to bury it.
As an example here’s a quote from Ziakalala about why he banned ‘Thabo Mbeki and the battle for the soul of the ANC’ author William Mervyn Gumede from the airwaves (emphasis mine):I never said don’t use William Gumede. I said to, I think to one editor…I have a problem with William Gumede. I have not read his book because his book is based on sources. And for [your] information, I was about to employ William Gumede as one of my column editors. But immediately when he wrote [Thabo Mbeki and the soul of the ANC]...I said this man is not reliable because he does not mention (his) sources.
He has not yet actually read his book but feels that he is qualified to ban him on the views expressed in that book (which are actually not that critical of Mbeki). It almost exactly mirrors SABC CEO Dali Mpofu canning of the Mbeki documentary without actually having seen it himself. It just conjures up a picture of SABC management covering their ears and shouting ‘LALALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU’ whenever a story critical of Mbeki or his policies comes into the newsroom.