The Evangelical Alliance of South Africa believes the firing of South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Head of News Phathiswa Magopeni is due to political pressure.
It has called on Parliament to get to the bottom of the matter to retain the public’s trust.
Magopeni was axed by the public broadcaster last Friday with the SABC citing a breakdown of trust.
Unions on the sacking of SABC’s head of news:
She reportedly intends to approach the Labour Court to challenge the disciplinary process that led to her dismissal.
The Evangelical Alliance of South Africa’s Reverend Moss Ntlha says, “We are concerned that this issue that is happening at the SABC, with the firing of the head of news for the reasons that have been made public, of interference and political interference, we think that is a bad sign. And we are worried that the trend should be immediately stopped. Parliament must get to the bottom of this so that we don’t have a situation like that where political interference is a norm at the national broadcaster.”
The SABC said the decision to dismiss its News Chief was procedurally fair.
SABC’s Spokesperson Gugu Ntuli says, “The proceedings were initiated and of course, with and disciplinary process there has got to be a hearing and this was all an internal process. However, there was a request to have the hearing public and so the SABC adhered to that and it was chaired by advocate Cassim and after having heard all the information provided and having heard also from the GE herself, he found her guilty of misconduct for failing to take the appropriate measures and measures to prevent the court order being complied with.”
