Racism and the decoy runner Springbok rugby does not need.

The recent series win by the Springboks in their best of three tests against the British & Irish Lions has proved them worthy world champions and yet the series has a shadow hanging over it with some macabre comedy taking place at press conferences.

Pieter De Villiers as head coach of the Springboks must be doing something right with the Boks winning and yet every time he opens his mouth with the media he says something silly or irrelevant.

He accused the white media of racism when they castigated Rickie Januarie after he proved woefully out of form when he came on against the Lions in Durban and also looked way short of the fitness demanded at this sort of level.

Racism has a bad history in South Africa and accusing people of racism when they are not being racist deflects attention from real racism whcih still exists.

He was also seen to condone Schalk Burger and his eye gouging episode thereby embarrassing South African rugby and he launched into a childish rhyme about being a God given talent which endeared him to precisely nobody.

Gary Gold, assistant coach, has lamented the lack of recognition the Boks have received for beating the Lions in the rubber with one test still to go but the fact is that the De Villiers vaudeville has cleverly deflected attention from rugby on the field.

De Villiers has proved inept at speaking to the media so maybe somebody else, captain John Smit should do the job. After all, De Villiers would not give the job of kicking at posts to Schalk Burger now would he. Watch this space.

A previous Bok coach under admittedly different conditions who also dismissed the media as an irritant was eventually swatted right out of his job.

Bok PR blunders

De Villiers has also persisted in claiming that the Lions never congratulated him after the series win. This has been denied by the Lions management. Confrontation looms every time De Villiers opens his mouth.

De Villiers in further confrontation

We must emphasise that the public broadcaster is not, and should not be, the mouthpiece of government.

The headline of this blog is a direct quote by President Jacob Zuma taken from his address at the SANEF NAT NAKASA Awards Dinner.

It is a bold statement for some, tantamount to treason for others and a simple statement of the obvious to most. Under the old National Party government in a bid to hold on to apartheid the public broadcaster (SABC) was used unashamedly to publicise government propaganda.

After independence the ANC government was content to continue this policy especially under Thabo Mbeki with the public broadcaster effectively run by Snuki and his media dictatorship.

Both the ANC and old National Party simply tinkered with the illusion that the public broadcaster actually had editorial freedom. In fact, for both the public broadcaster has been a comfort zone playground just waiting for government bits and pieces of media spin.

The public broadcaster is currently in tatters with allegations of impropriety, mismanagement, nepotism and cronyism emerging from the ashes and it stands in desperate need of a government bailout.

However, there are sane minds in parliament that want the SABC board and others responsible for the disaster to be removed before recovery can start.

The statement by President Zuma, ” We must emphasise that the public broadcaster is not, and should not be, the mouthpiece of government” comes at a time when not just the existence of the public broadcaster but its entire direction and policy need to be debated.

It is a simple statement but one with severe repercussions throughout government and ANC circles. There has long been dispute about the ANC relationship with the media and whether the organisation needs a media outlet of its own.

Since independence it has had carte blanche with the public broadcaster simply waiting for instructions from ANC cadres and things might now change for media people in government and ANC.

Could this be a turning point in the government and ANC approach to the media where they both accept criticism where criticism is due or will there be extended debate with white papers and qualifications on the actual parameters of media freedom that the SABC will enjoy. Watch this space.

See article here.