It is amazing that the SABC will continue with its policy on not giving any coverage to violent protests.  This has now already been held to be invalid by ICASA who said that no absolute ban can be placed on a subject, and that “South Africa is not, as in the apartheid era, a dictatorship.”  They should try telling that to Hlaudi Motsoeneng, who has ignored much more than just ICASA so far!  There seems to be an approach at the SABC to simply ignore anybody’s findings and do whatever you want, or at least until after the elections.  The fact of the matter is the SABC has become a mouthpiece for the ANC and ahead of elections there are certain things that they just don’t want to be covered.  

Journalists have been suspended, his permanent appointment as Chief Operating Officer of the SABC has already been set aside and of course he has already been featured in the report of the Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, where they found that he fabricated his Matric qualification and also simply increased his salary without following any valid procedures, from R1,5 million to R2,4 million in one year.  I think this is a very good example of what we are going to see in the years ahead, as the ANC tries, through the various entities it controls, to reduce the coverage and support of minority parties like the EFF and the DA as they grow in popularity.  Controlling your public broadcasters, Vladimir Putin has shown in Russia, is crucial for controlling votes and Putin has effectively ensured, no matter what he does, that he will never lose popularity because essentially all independent media in Russia has either been closed down or terribly intimidated.  We are lucky that the same situation does not exist in South Africa, but for the vast majority of our population the only news that they see is what is shown on the SABC and that is why there is such a fight to control the news that they see.