Analyst Labels MK Party’s Case Against SABC A ‘Publicity Stunt’

Recently, former President Jacob Zuma and his Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party launched an urgent court application against the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).

The MK party is challenging the SABC’s reference to the seventh administration as a Government of National Unity (GNU). However, experts have described this move as nothing more than a publicity stunt.

On the previous day, MK filed court papers in the High Court in Johannesburg. The papers accused the public broadcaster of misleading the public by using the term GNU incorrectly.

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Jacob Zuma stated that experts had warned the SABC about this incorrect usage, but the broadcaster had continued regardless.

Law expert and former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela criticized the MK party’s actions, calling the case baseless.

She pointed out that no law specifies what a GNU should look like, and therefore, no law has been violated. She emphasized that the MK case has no legal basis and no reasonable prospect of success in court.

Independent political analyst Goodenough Mashego also condemned the court case, labelling it a publicity stunt.

He argued that the MK party is merely seeking attention to remain in the news. Mashego further clarified that it was not the SABC that decided to call the seventh administration a GNU, but the government itself that has been using this term.

Again it is not only the SABC using that term, but all the media houses nationally and internationally.

“Saying that the SABC as a public broadcaster should not use the GNU in its platforms because it is misleading, those utterances are also misleading and to make an argument where there is none.

“The former president and his party aim to be there and talk and play victims to gain public sympathy,” said Mashego.

“They always want to appear as a party that is being marginalised, instead of providing alternative ideas on how to take the country forward.”

“The party does not understand the constitution of the country.

“We have all kinds of rights in the country, including the freedom of the media, which means the media can refer to the administration in a way that they see fit.

“Just like the media decided not to call the power cut load shedding, claiming that it is a public relations term and they called it a blackout.”