The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa has postponed the hearing of a complaint brought by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) over alleged South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) censorship of its adverts until Thursday April 17, when the regulator’s Complaints and Compliance Committee (CCC) will meet.
HumanIPO reported yesterday ICASA would hear the complaint today, which centres around the SABC’s removal of the party’s “Ayisafani” advertisement, in which the DA claims the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is “corrupt” and “for the connected few”, and shows images of President Zuma’s Nkandla estate, police brutality and unemployed South Africans.
“This is censorship pure and simple,” said the DA’s premier candidate for Gauteng and national spokesperson Mmusi Maimane.
“The reasons advanced by the SABC are spurious, and almost certainly illegal. This is a transparent attempt by the SABC to protect Jacob Zuma from any public accountability for the Nkandla scandal.”
James Selfe, DA federal chairperson, said the party was disappointed the 48-hour timeline for dealing with such complaints had not been met.
“The DA is extremely concerned that the 48-hour timeline set by ICASA’s regulations has been ignored in this case, and that the hearing will now only occur in three days’ time. The DA’s election campaign will be prejudiced as a result, and the ANC’s will be advantaged,” he said, adding the DA had requested a there be no further delays and a decision be reached by 5pm on Thursday.
The DA has launched an offensive against Zuma ahead of the presidential elections in May, resulting in the ANC taking the opposition party to court over a bulk SMS which accused Zuma of stealing public money.
A judge ruled in the DA’s favour, with the ANC then announcing its plan to appeal the judgement, with the DA saying it would use the results of the court case as evidence to have Zuma impeached.
