Zuma and MK party take SABC to court over the use of GNU

Former president Jacob Zuma and the MK party have filed an urgent application in court to stop the SABC from referring to the seventh administration as a government of national unity (GNU) on its platforms.

In court papers filed in the Johannesburg high court, Zuma said the SABC is an organ of the state and should not mimic the ANC when it incorrectly calls the seventh administration the GNU.

“What is illegal and the subject matter of this application is for the SABC, which is an organ of the state constitutionally enjoined to obey certain standards in the discharge of its public duties, to mimic a political party or parties by adopting hook, line and sinker a patently inaccurate and subjective definition of the prevailing political arrangements.

“The unique positions of the SABC in our constitutional statutory and/or regulatory environment must be distinguished from the other institutions or players.”

He also said in the papers that despite several warnings from experts, the SABC continued to use the term, adding that he had no alternative but to institute court proceedings.

“It is therefore no exaggeration to say that a term like GNU, which has been topical since its unfortunate and inaccurate employment by the ANC on or about June 6 2024 must have been uttered several millions of times since that date on SABC platforms,” Zuma said in his affidavit.

“If no intervention is made, it will continue to be uttered for more millions of times in the foreseeable future and beyond.

“In short, the SABC is by far the largest single source of news and/or current affairs programming for millions [of] SA citizens like me,” he said.

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