SABC confirms presence of SANDF members in its offices but not into newsroom

The SABC has confirmed that members of the South African National Defence Force have been deployed at its offices in Auckland Park, Johannesburg and in Durban.

Group Executive of Corporate Affairs and Marketing Gugu Ntuli says the move was made to protect the public broadcaster’s premises and staff. She says the deployment was made in light of the recent unrest in the two provinces.

The SABC premises are national key points. Ntuli elaborates, “The SABC, therefore, refutes, with the necessary contempt, the misleading and malicious allegations that there is an ulterior motive for the presence of the SANDF at its premises. In the exercise of their responsibilities, the members of the SANDF engage with the SABC’s internal security to familiarise themselves with some internal security processes and National Key Point activities, including News.”

National keypoint

The SANDF says they were deployed to National Key Points during the riots in July, and SABC premises are part of the deployment.

SANDF spokesperson Brigadier General Mafi Mgobozi says the deployment will remain until they are told to withdraw.

“Our soldiers, when the violence started, the unrest, we started deploying our soldiers to national keypoint areas. The SABC was one of them. We deploy our soldiers to most of the SABC stations. And then this deployment will continue until we receive instruction from the Commander in Chief that our soldiers must start withdrawing from the areas where they are.”