The SABC has banned the broadcasting of a radio advertisement wherein AfriForum asks the public to support AfriForum’s campaign against polarising statements like “Kill the Boer”.
In the ad, AfriForum says it indicates that the organisation will oppose polarisation in the case that is expected to be heard in the Supreme Court of Appeals on 4 September and through projects that promotes mutual respect between different communities.
Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, described the public broadcaster’s ban as “gross sensorship” that ridicules its claims that the SABC is impartial and against divisive statements.
“The SABC has now positioned themselves firmly behind Julius Malema, the EFF and this party’s divisive use of the “Kill the Boer” phrase by trying to silence those, like AfriForum, who are promoting mutual respect by opposing polarisation,” Kriel said in a statement.
According to Kriel it is shocking that the SABC, given the broadcaster’s financial disposition, is willing to reject an income from an AfriForum advertisement just to serve their own ideological biases.
“The SABC’s partiality, as shown by banning AfriForum’s advertisement, is exactly one of the reasons why so many people stopped paying their TV licenses,” he said.
The SABC argued that a sub judice rule prohibits it from broadcasting the advertisement at this point because the case has not been heard in the Supreme Court of Appeals yet.
The public broadcaster also said that the EFF should have been afforded the right of reply to give their side of the case regarding the advertisement.
