Can it be that Jacob Zuma — unlike many millions of other South Africans — never watches SABC TV news bulletins, or that he never listens to the many radio stations broadcasting in all South Africa’s official languages every day to more than 26-million South Africans? Has he ever heard of and does he sometimes read some of the country’s largest circulating newspapers, the Sowetan (with almost 1,5-million daily readers) or City Press (more than two million weekly readers), the Sunday Sun (almost two million weekly readers), or the Sunday World (more than one million readers)?
It does not seem so — unless he thinks all these media outlets are so mediocre and uninteresting that they do not form part of “the South African mass media” at all. How else can one explain his online newsletter this week in which he approvingly quotes from the launch edition of ANC Today, in which it was stated:
“We are faced with the virtually unique situation that, among the democracies, the overwhelmingly dominant tendency in South African politics, represented by the ANC, has no representation whatsoever in the mass media. We therefore have to contend with the situation that what masquerades as ‘public opinion’, as reflected in the bulk of our media, is in fact minority opinion informed by the historic social and political position occupied by this minority.”
What all these media outlets mentioned above have in common is that they are extremely sympathetic to the ANC. As far as the SABC — by far the most powerful media outlet with the widest reach in South Africa — is concerned, it is in fact a complete lapdog for the ruling party, singing its praises and treading extremely carefully around anything that could put it in a bad light. With a few notable exceptions like The After Eight Debate on SAFM, the various SABC news programmes can seem like little more than ANC policy pronouncements as interpreted by Snuki Zikalala (PhD Bulgaria).
To say that the bulk of the media in South Africa are hostile to the ANC is so obviously far-fetched and so far off the mark that it is difficult to understand how the president of the ANC (or is it his media adviser, Ranjeni Munusamy?) could have made this statement and still be expected to be taken seriously on the issue. As the previous writer of the ANC Today weekly letter would have said, it appears to be an “objective falsehood”.
It seems as if the president of the ANC made a very embarrassing Freudian slip by talking about the “mass media” as if constituted only by those newspapers (the Sunday Times, Star, Citizen) that in the past targeted white readers or broadly supported the ANC project, but now sometimes expose wrongdoing by members of the ANC (like the Mail & Guardian does from time to time). These are the newspapers that sometimes “act like opposition parties” and vigorously criticise the ANC, and sometimes expose the depressing corruption and nepotism that seem to have become endemic among some ANC leaders.
These newspapers are read by a tiny fraction of the South African population (while most South Africans get their information from SABC radio or television broadcasts run by the pro-ANC — or is it a pro-Mbeki? — clique) and only have influence because they are read by those with money and access to power. They just as much represent the mass media as the PAC represents the interests of the masses of our people.
The ANC president is, of course, correct to observe that the mass media are a main battleground of ideas and “a product of the various political, social, economic and cultural forces that exist within a society”. This is why the ANC has such an advantage come election time — it has most of the mass media, including the mightiest media organisation, the SABC, firmly in its corner.
Even so, as Tony Blair and George Bush and many other politicians operating in more or less democratic systems have realised, the way to deal with critical media is to try to win them over to your side by wooing them and putting your best foot forward — the same way Zuma has been wooing the international business community. It is rather counter-productive to call them names because — like the Sunday Times — they will get upset with you and try to “get” you at every possible opportunity.
Blair won his first election by wooing the virulently right-wing newspapers owned by Rupert Murdock and had the mass daily the Sun in his corner when he defeated John Major at the polls. The problem with this strategy is, of course, that you need to act in a way that impresses the media. You need to talk to them and charm them (as haughty President Mbeki decidedly did not do) and you need to make sure you do not act in an arrogant, nepotistic or corrupt fashion.
If, say, your party elects as its president someone who has taken more than a million rand from a convicted fraudster and then did several favours for him (as was confirmed by the highest court in the land), you will find it hard-pressed to get the independent media on your side. If your party elects to its national working committee (NWC) someone who is still on parole for defrauding Parliament in an arms-deal scandal, you will also find it difficult to win over the independent media. And if you try to deny the bleeding obvious (”the ANC is not divided”, “there is no corruption in the arms deal”, “the president did not know about Jackie Selebi’s links with organised crime”), you are going to lose the sympathy of the independent media.
What the president of the ANC seems to be saying is therefore something different, namely that there are too many independent newspapers with influence among the chattering classes. These newspapers are far too quick to dig up stories of corruption and mismanagement among ANC leaders and must be shut up. This is not an argument about the “battle of ideas” and how to win it, but an argument about how to silence those pesky journalists who dare to ask difficult questions and who dare criticise the party that is the self-styled vanguard of the so-called national democratic revolution.
The basic sound idea — that the media are powerful and that the ANC as the major political force in South Africa must engage them — is being used as a Trojan horse to try to silence any independent media. This view is essentially anti-democratic because it is based on the notion that the party — as the leader of the national democratic revolution — always knows best and that any criticism of it cannot but be illegitimate because it emanates from the “opposition” press.
But for the time being it will not work. The independent media might be relatively small, but they are vibrant and protected by our Constitution and by the courts. His Master’s Voice can continue to tell us the good news and to ignore any criticism of the majority party, but other voices will keep the flame of democracy burning. And in the short term there is nothing Zuma or Tony Yengeni or anyone else on the NWC can do about it.
That is the wonder of living in a democracy. Hallelujah!
Having a free press does not make SA a ‘democracy: that would be a very inadequate definition of the term.
SA is a monocracy – which is why the ruling party sees ‘the media’ as its opposition: sections of it do withhold the unquestionning endorsement of its project that the ANC would prefer.
It also explains why, as Pierre makes clear, the freedom of the media (along with the independence of the judiciary in SA) comes so regularly under attack and appears so vulnerable.
Is this the same Jacob Zuma who has been seen parading on tv, newspapers and internet websites, dancing in his multi-cultural get-up (animal skins and white takkies) and entertaining us all with his not so delightful musical “talents” (umshini wam)? If so, he gets enough coverage already, maybe too much!!! Let the press remain free or it will be the masses that will be enslaved and not the “poor ANC” as they claim.
A free press can exist in a nation that does not respect it’s people – as in Kenya, where the press is significantly more open, more critical of the government, the opposition and failings in broader society than the relatively weak efforts in many fora that pass for a ‘free press’ here.
The media cannot protect. They can only alert, discuss, interrogate flaws, investigate (but too many investigations are manipulated by those who seek to advance agendas and ‘leak’ material to the media). A good media encourages debate and a diversity of opinions – too little of that happens at present in South Africa.
However, the very fact that Zuma has a weekly newsletter is an indication that he understands the power of the written word and that he wants to engage on his own terms.
I wouldn’t get too hysterical about it at this stage, the media is,if nothing, resilient. If we are free with the pen or microphone and criticise, I don’t see why we should not be criticised in return. Bring it on. We, of all people,should not discourage criticism nor flinch when it is directed at us. Globally the media is more powerful than any government, it is important that we listen to critiques without jumping up and down.
Our response to those who criticise us, speaks volumes about our personal commitment to freedom of opinion. And too, the manner in which those with power criticise us or even seek to repress or control the media, tells the world more about them and their real intent than any carefully crafted speech.
So far Zuma is not saying anything that Mbeki, Botha and others haven’t said before him.
A good media can never be won over, our task is to remain critical but fair; to be vigilant; to be ethical. If politicians don’t like us, then we’re probably doing our job well.
The day I’ll worry is when they say how much they treasure us.
Thank you for the compliment on the U.S. being a democracy. Sorry though, our media is controlled by a right wing cabal. Bush lost the last 2 elections but was still put into office because of people like Murdoch. Over 1 million Iraqi’s are dead and the world is pouring profits into Bush’s oil buddies pockets. The Arabs have bought a major portion of Fox owned by Murdoch.
The Carlyle group is buying up media all over the world in order to scare populations into hating their neighbor’s and creating wars that will benefit them.
We all need to pass local laws that keep Govt. and Military away from our media.
De Vos…
As always, clearly articulated piece, it puts the situation into perspective.
Charlene Smith seems to have missed the point though. No other president of the majority party (with the exception of Smuts and the stupid British “death sentence in abstencia”) has had a pending high court appointment. No other has sung as stupid a song as “umshini wam” … and he danced so badly too.
As bad as the previous governments of South Africa have been, many seem to have forgotten that none have stood by as over half a million of OUR people have died from AIDS, that life expectancy is down to below 50 for an Aparthate high of 72 years. If you’ve watched people die from AIDs, you come to understand there can be few greater human rights violations than the failure to act against HIV. It makes de Kock, Niewoud and Wouter Basson look like the good guys. AND WE STILL DON’T HAVE A COMPLETE ARV ROLL OUT!!!
And crime, Charlene Smiths speciality…
I spent yesterday evening in a shabeen where there was a local ANC leader (Zuma man). He started telling me the evils of the White press and the Aparthate courts. Later in the evening, we discussed failure to pay tax on money earned. I pointed out that Zuma had not paid tax on the money paid to him by Shabier. A little later we discussed the money rural people must pay chiefs for the work they were paid to do by government and we went on to discuss payment of government officials for state contracts. I left about then because the support for Zuma was dwindling and I was scared there would be a riot. Very good fun was had by all.
We have much to do, we have to talk, talk, talk. We have to write, write, write.
We have to challenge all the sloth evil in this great country of ours.
Each media has its own target population and I’m glad that the SABC has refused to be drawn to the circle of highly subjective media who report in the interest of its own cliques. The SABC continue to report news that is non-partisan and in the benefit of all the masses. I have witnessed how a good media could be sidelined from its responsibilities to settle personal score as reflected by Sunday Times. I used to read Sunday Times almost every week until it engaged in a powerbattle with Manto. During their legal battle with Manto, one issue had so many articles about her which made me realise that their justification for having illegal personal information in the interest of readers was wrong and I stopped buying their newspaper which is used to settle scores.
PdV why do you equate Snuki Zikalala with SABC and ANC? If Snuki, ANC and SABC were one, we would not be seeing Helen Zille and other party leaders making comments and statements on the national TV. As for why Zuma is critical of the mass media, I couldnt say more than what Charlene Smith has already said.
Well-spotted, Pierre. I thought the same myself, especially about the SABC, which is owned by the state and run by lackeys.
On the US media, it’s amusing that those who claim it is “controlled by a right wing cabal” can’t cite any major media houses other than Fox and perhaps the Wall Street Journal (which is editorially well-insulated from its new owner, News Corp). The majority of the US media endorsed John Kerry for President in the last election, and I’ll wager that 60% will opt to support the Democratic nominee this time around. The US media has hardly thrown united support behind the Iraq war, or the Bush presidency, either. On the contrary.
John bond, You seem not to understand that your apartheid government never had a strategy to deal with AIDS. I honestly don’t know how you know for sure that “half-a-million people died of AIDS” because of government inaction. Are you but just a part of the ARV lobby? How do you know for sure the life expectancy during apartheid? I’m saying this because it is widely known that apartheid stats cannot be trusted as they didn’t include black people. So the life expectancy you are talking about is only that of whites. Well, from your perspective as John, “de Kock, Niewoud and Wouter Basson look like the good guys” but from mine as Siviwe they remain bad guys. Ask any black guy how they were. The answer will be the same.
Well, here is a thought, Mr de Vos. Is it not true that until a few weeks back the same Snuki and Dali show on the SABC were backing a horse called Thabo Mbeki? So somehow you expect him to love these guys as quickly as all that? I don’t think so.
There is the distinct possibility that Snuki and Dali are supremely supportive of the government and not necessarily of the party at this stage. These two entities could have been the same thing before Polokwane. But no longer.
Just a thought.
Siviwe
It’s time for you to start getting your stats from organisations like the World Bank, IMF and UN rather than from the “white owned” press or the “ANC” SABC.
The Aparhate government was bad yet in many important fields our current government, is much worse and that is no compliment to the people of this great country.
Why don’t you spend an hour on the web looking up SA,s honesty rating or our longevity or the TB statistics or any other topic that impacts all our people. Do it for the last 30 years and then post a blog telling us how proud (or otherwise) you are of your findings….
I’ve generally found that the first 5 to 8 years, things did improve. One must remember that when Mandela was in power, there was a government of national unity (with the Afrikaaner) that imposed checks and balances preventing our government from becoming so despotic.
We first need to understand what’s happening to MY and your great country and then do something about it. That means we need to study what’s happening, not listel to a politition when he tells us “just trust me…”
My own observation about the whole issue is that the media is untouchable above reproach and anyone who holds a view contrary to that espoused by the dominant media must be roasted. Those of us who know the role played by the media during the apartheid regime have a reason to fear when there are those, esp whites who say that the media must off limits, while it is being used by powerful individuals and institutions.
Those who live in glass houses must not throw stones! The self styled John Bond surely is not older than twenty years, else where was he when TB, a curable disease, killed hundreds of thousands of black people, due to lack of attetion from the regime he purpots to know and which he holds so much respect? Or is he among those who just woke up after 1994 to find that there existed something called separate development in SA? It does seem that he is selective wrt what to look for when perusing the history and background to health statistics in this country. As for the evident hankering for the infamous past Bond, I sympathise with you because it will never return.
I want to touch on something peddled by the media about the incorporation of the investigative arm of the NPA to the SAPS. Surely any media that wants to earn the title of non-partisan and fair reporting will report accurately that this decision was only rubber-stamped at Polokwane, having been proposed at the ANC NGC, a half-term gathering of ANC branches in 2005 while Pres Mbeki was ANC President. An objective media would not drag its feet in pointing out that this is neither a decision by Pres Zuma, nor a decision designed to protect him by the 86 NEC members elected at Polokwane.
good efort
Zuma is disappointed that “the media” isn’t translated into “imbongis for me and my ANC cabal”.
King Shaka wouldn’t have let some cheeky lowly bafanas and madodas and, especially, little impertinent ntombazanas, come and poke fun at the mighty king and his rule.
They’d all be dead by lunchtime. Or his majesty would have been diminished.
Hey Kennedy
Don’t embarrass yourself by posting here unless you’ve looked at the Statistics. I get to feel uncomfortable for you.
In 1968, I joined SATBA and helped them sell Xmas stamps to help eradicate TB among all races. They made amazing strides up until 1994 when things started going backwards. What is the current regime doing to combat TB? Why not find out about the progress and write us a blog on the subject. (Unfortunately, it’s pretty disgusting right now)
Your response Kennedy reminds me a lot of our current regime and “our honourable citizen” State President Mbeki. As you know, he talks first then has to support a stupid cause because he didn’t get the facts.
Hey Kennidy, why don’t you also post one area where our regime has performed exceptionally well? But do your research first or other people will cut you to pieces.