CIVIC society organizations have raised concern at the delay in the finalization of South Africa’s Broadcasting Amendment Bill.
This follows reports that the bill, which seeks to end the problems at the country’s public broadcaster, has been referred back to parliament.
“We welcome the fact that the Bill has been referred back to parliament for appropriate amendment. We however wish to express our concern at the undue delay in the finalization and ascent to this very important piece of legislation. Our concern revolves around the fact that parliament and
government has been unable to timeously intervene in arresting the rapid decline of the public broadcaster under the oversight of the current and illegitimate board,” said the South African Communist Party (SACP).
“The SACP urges parliament to speedily effect the necessary amendment for the Bill to be sent back to the president for ascent without any further delays. As the SACP we would like to see the implementation of the envisaged act as a matter of extreme urgency for the sake of the public broadcaster and the general public.”
The Bill has not been signed into law by the President while state law advisors are checking its constitutionality.
The “Save our SABC: Reclaiming our Public Broadcaster” Coalition said that once the particular issues have been checked, and resolved, the Bill must urgently be signed into law.
Mthulisi Sibanda
I wouldn’t call this a very objective article. The SACP have been the one’s promoting this bill from the start – far more organisations are opposed to it and welcome the move to send it back to parliament. Furthermore the SACP is a political party, why describe them as a civic organisation?