NEWS / 07 Jul '16, 08:27am
LUYOLO MKENTANE
Johannesurg - Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the controversial and divisive figure at the epicentre of the SABC pickets, has been dismissed as an opportunist for claiming the “90 percent local content” agenda as his brainchild.
The SACP lashed out at Motsoeneng for using the quota to “divide workers in the creative industries and to sow confusion among the public”.
Organisations such as the SOS Coalition, Media Monitoring Africa, Freedom of Expression Institute, Right2Know Campaign, and the National Association of Manufacturers in Electronic Components, picketed with the SACP outside the SABC in Auckland Park in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Picture: Bhekikhaya Mabaso. Credit: INDEPENDENT MEDIA
SACP second deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila described Motsoeneng as someone who was strongly opposed to the increase in local content on SABC TV and radio stations.
Mapaila said the rule was the SACP's brainchild, and that they had called for its implementation during their march to the broadcaster’s Auckland Park headquarters on October 21, 2012. The march, he said, was “blacked out” as the SABC had refused to air it.
“It is now the selfsame personality cult manifesting itself in the person of Hlaudi Motsoeneng who plays the hero on the moral high-horse, whereas he is in fact a deceitful tyrant abusing the plight of the creative workers’ industry while riding the donkey of despotism,” said an angry Mapaila.
He was addressing picketers outside the SABC headquarters on Wednesday as they campaigned to force Motsoeneng to resign within seven days, and for the SABC board to follow suit.
Civil society organisations SOS Coalition, Freedom of Expression Institute and the Right2Know Campaign protested.
Mapaila was “exposing the lies” as a group of Motsoeneng’s supporters gathered outside the SABC Radio Park, where they were given permission to picket.
Motsoeneng’s supporters taunted the picketers and played a drum to drown out the speakers.
They carried placards declaring their support for him while police struggled to separate the two groups, who nearly came to blows.
SA Arts and Culture Youth Forum president Romeo Ramuada said they were behind Motsoeneng and the SABC board, which was criticised by the ANC on Tuesday for its silence on the ongoing saga at the broadcaster.
He characterised Motsoeneng as their saviour because artists had been sidelined for the past 22 years, while he had their best interests at heart. Ramuada also accused the SACP of being counter-revolutionaries for wanting Motsoeneng to resign, saying they were against local content.
But Mapaila disputed this, saying it was a lie that organisations expressing their views against the SABC crisis were against local content.
“It is blatantly clear that the personality cult that has firmly established his despotism at the SABC has been using the age-old tactic of divide and rule in order to maintain his tyranny…
"It is clear that the unlawfully appointed chief operating officer has been using the 90 percent local content rule to divide workers in the creative industries and sow confusion among members of the public,” he said.
SACP Gauteng secretary Jacob Mamabolo described Motsoeneng’s supporters as "poor, innocent, but co-opted comrades” and lashed out at the police for their ineptitude in dealing with the illegally gathered group.
Joburg metro police Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said: “In terms of the Gatherings Act, when permission is granted for a protest, that means the protest is protected; that’s why there were officers diverting traffic."
http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/hlaudi-a-liar-about-content-rule-says-sacp-2042635