JOHANNESBURG: Things certainly have changed at South Africa’s public broadcaster, once the mouthpiece of the apartheid government. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) now runs stories that are highly critical of the ruling party and it has spruced up its image by using younger presenters, meant to stave off competition from newer, hip channels.

But more than a decade after apartheid crumbled, SABC cannot shake off perceptions that it is still a propaganda tool of the country’s rulers — this time former liberation movement African National Congress (ANC).

“I think there’s definitely a worrying tendency to move closer to the ANC,” said Anton Harber, professor of journalism and media studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

“There are definitely worrying challenges to their independence,” he said.

SABC’s critics point to the appointment last year of ANC member and former government spokesman Snuki Zikalala as head of news, saying the broadcaster is still a pawn in the government’s political machinery.

Critics say Zikalala’s hiring was clear proof the ANC wanted to push its agenda at the SABC — the nation’s primary source of news with three TV channels and 18 national radio stations, despite stiff competition from the private sector in recent years.

Zikalala has denied he is a political appointee and dismissed critics as racist.

“Just because I am black and a member of the ANC, I cannot be objective and independent? It’s simply not true,” he was quoted as saying in Beeld newspaper.

SABC has also insisted there is no conflict of interest in Zikalala’s appointment.

“We are guided by very clear editorial policy and therefore we refute these allegations,” said SABC spokesman Paul Setsetse.

Unlike elsewhere in Africa — notably neighbouring Zimbabwe where the government has a tight grip on state-owned media — SABC has an independent board with a mandate to serve the public and not its sole owner.

Only around three per cent of its income comes from the state. The rest is generated by advertising and TV licence fees.

But critics argue the SABC board is appointed by an ANC-dominated parliamentary committee and point out that in 2002 the Communications Ministry sought to amend the Broadcasting Act to give its officials the final say in SABC’s editorial policy.

After an outcry in the media, parliament rejected the idea.

Perceptions of bias have also been fuelled by recent news items on SABC, including a much criticized interview with Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe.

In August, SABC apologized to viewers after accusations it deliberately failed to report on a public humiliation for Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at a Women’s Day rally in KwaZulu-Natal, stronghold of her sacked predecessor Jacob Zuma.—Reuters