LETTER: SABC reporter out of line on De Ruyter

What right does an SABC employee have to instruct the ANC national leadership to dismiss the Eskom CEO for alleged incompetence?

“If he were black, he would have been long fired,” SABC political reporter Samkelo Maseko abrasively told ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Zizi Kodwa when he interviewed him at Irene, Pretoria, on Monday. The import of Maseko’s assertion about CEO André de Ruyter is that he is not fit for purpose. If that is so, what objective tool does Maseko have to make that assessment? He does not tell us.

It is OK for energy expert Ted Blom to blame De Ruyter for the mess at Eskom. It is preferable that Maseko, a reporter, directly interviews Blom and De Ruyter and gives SABC viewers their opinions and perspectives on the state of play at Eskom, and asks De Ruyter if he is not concerned about claims of nonperformance and the possibility of being fired.  

Load-shedding is a curse, but the problems at Eskom are multilayered and complex, and predate De Ruyter. The utility’s demise is a product of many years of neglect, compounded by the Zuma years of incompetence, looting and corruption.

The SABC sent Maseko to cover the ANC NEC meeting in Irene, Pretoria, to give the viewers of his TV station hard facts and a factual account of coalition discussions at the meeting.

Sure, there is a place for opinions in journalism, but the reporter’s job is to report hard facts, whatever their political bias might be. The SABC is a public broadcaster. We should not let it be turned into a political platform.

Jo-Mangaliso Mdhlela,Via email

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