POLITICS / 10 October 2016, 12:20pm
Thami Magubane
Durban - The general secretary of the SACP, Blade Nzimande, has heaped praise on the ANC for its tough stance in dealing with the crisis at the national broadcaster.
The multiparty communications portfolio committee led by the ANC dealt a heavy blow to the SABC board last week, ordering it to resign.
James Nxumalo, SACP chairman in KZN, and general secretary Blade Nzimande at the Red October rally in Inchanga. Picture: Patrick Mtolo. Credit: THE MERCURY
The board and the organisation have recently limped from one crisis to the next, chiefly around the reappointment of former chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng to the position of group executive of corporate affairs.
On Wednesday last week the portfolio committee called for the SABC board to be dissolved. Two board members announced their decision to resign on the spot, while the remaining four dug their heels in, saying they were going nowhere.
Speaking at the Red October Communist Party event held in Inchanga on Sunday, Nzimande said the firm stance of the ANC showed the party had the strength to take tough decisions. He said it should extend that approach to all other dysfunctional state institutions.
"We have to praise the members of the portfolio committee of the ANC for dealing with that matter. The way they handled that matter, I was impressed and I said, 'This is the ANC that I know'," said Nzimande to loud cheers from the crowd.
The event, where a few thousand SACP and alliance members had gathered, was attended by many national and provincial leaders of the ANC and the SACP, among them ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize and Deputy Minister of Agriculture Bheki Cele.
Inchanga was selected as the venue in an effort to bring peace to the area, following the violence that erupted in the run-up to the local government elections.
Nzimande said the ANC had shown it could still deal decisively with matters affecting the nation.
"Those comrades have set the bar very high. I believe that is the way that the ANC should be dealing with all other matters," he said.
"It is nonsense, what is happening inside the SABC."
Among the issues Nzimande took exception to was the decision by the national broadcaster to sell its archives to Multichoice.
He said the archives had been sold for a small amount and those who could not afford the pay-for-view service would never be able to enjoy the content again.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/blade-backs-ancs-hard-line-on-hlaudi-2078085