By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Presidency has refuted claims that the State Security Agency(SSA) has been targeting SABC head of news, Moshoeshoe Monare, ahead of the elections.
This comes after a report alleging that the SSA has sought to subject Monare to another round of vetting – two years after he assumed office.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said Monare is not the only executive at the state broadcaster undergoing vetting.
The SABC made the request to the SSA to conduct a vetting process on Monare, as per the established practise with all SABC executives. Monare’s predecessor went through a similar vetting process without any hitches. It is therefore not true that Monare is being targeted ahead of the elections.
“Upon his appointment, Monare consented to the vetting process, completed the form that was furnished to him, and went further to submit some but not all of the required information.
“The process was then stalled when Monare did not want to submit himself to a polygraph test, which is part of the vetting process. Consequently, the vetting of Monare was never completed.”
Magwenya insisted that president Cyril Ramaphosa would never allow journalists or the media to be intimidated.
“Ramaphosa or any part of his administration will never sanction acts of intimidation or harassment of journalists because such behaviour in our country will stand contrary to the sacrosanct adherence to the Bill of Rights enshrined in our Constitution.”
Media and freedom of expression organisations including the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF), Campaign for Freedom of Expression (CFE) and Support Public Broadcasting Coalition (SOS) have expressed grave concern over the revelations.
The South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) Reggy Moalusi condemned the move, saying it undermines the fundamental principles of media, editorial independence, and freedom of the press.
“It can’t be that a head of news is targeted in this manner a month before the elections. We don’t understand why they want to vet him again; he has been vetted before. So, we call on the presidency and the board to act quickly so that we see a stop to this vetting and allow Moshoeshoe to focus on work that’s critical for the SABC news department.”
The news report comes a week after an audio leak from the governing party, the African National Congress, where Ramaphosa can be heard lamenting negative reporting in the media.
Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) has also called on the Presidency to openly condemn what it termed a blatant act of intimidation against Monare.
MMA Director William Bird says anyone who tries to undermine media freedom must be held accountable.
“It cannot be right that just ahead of elections instead of focussing on the electoral coverage, the head of news is having to subject himself to dealing with attacks by other the State Security Agency on his integrity.”
Bird adds: “There’s no legitimate reason why it should occur. It doesn’t occur to any editor anywhere in the country, nor should it occur to any editor anywhere else in the country. So why should the head of the SABC be any different?”