The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it will submit parliamentary questions to Minister of Communications, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams requesting the minutes of a SABC board meeting in which discussions reportedly took place to spy on the SABC’s staff.
The alleged spying was aimed at curbing the prevalence of “leaks” within the public broadcaster.
The party says it will also specifically request a full account of when and how the SABC Board worked with the State Security Agency (SSA) following its admission to doing so.
Although the SABC has dismissed allegations of planning to spy on staff as reported in the Sunday Times, it has admitted to working with the SSA to manage leaks within the broadcaster.
The DA has however slammed this as smacking of the Hlaudi Motsoeneng-era where a climate of fear and intimidation of staff by the board and management prevailed.
The party says that the SSA’s work should not be to engage in the internal squabbles of the SABC but to advance South Africa’s national security interests.
It says should the SABC see it fit to investigate leaks, it should use internal mechanisms not the SSA.
The party says it expects to get a full and detailed response to its parliamentary questions on the matter from Ndabeni-Abrahams.
