About Us

*Why the need for SOS?* Civil society has an important role to play in the shaping of public institutions – in particular our SABC. We should be nominating people to the Board, scrutinizing the annual report, debating new legislation, commenting on programming…. As the recent crises over leadership and funding at the SABC have unfolded, we have felt compelled to take our rightful place in “Reclaiming our public broadcaster”. *When was SOS launched?* On the 10th of June 2008, NGOs, civil society organizations, trade unions, academics and journalists met to discuss the crises at the SABC and resolved to form a civil society coalition to ensure listeners and viewers were part of solving the problems. *So who is SOS?* Membership of the SOS is open to any individual, NGO, CBO, trade union or independent producer organization that is interested in joining. Membership is approved by the working group. Current SOS Coalition members include AIDC (Alternative Information Development Centre); BEMAWU (The Broadcast, Electronic Media and Allied Workers Union); Cape Town TV; COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions); IDASA, an African Democracy Institute; FEDUSA (Federation of Unions of South Africa); The FXI (Freedom of Expression Institute); The FXN (Freedom of Expression Network); The IPO (Independent Producers Organisation); The IAJ (Institute for the Advancement of Journalism); MMA (Media Monitoring Africa); The South African Screen Federation (SASFED); MISA South Africa (The South African National Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa);The NCRF (National Community Radio Forum); The National Consumer Forum; SANGONET (The South African Non-Governmental Organisation Network); SAHA (The South African History Archives); The TAC (Treatment Action Campaign); Workers World Media Productions; Prof. Anton Harber – Caxton Professor of Journalism, University of the Witwatersrand (in his private capacity); Prof. Devan Pillay – Head of Sociology Department, University of the Witwatersrand (in his private capacity); Prof. Tawana Kupe – Associate Professor of Media Studies and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand (in his private capacity); Ms. Justine Limpitlaw – broadcasting lawyer and academic (in her private capacity); Ms. Jeanette Minnie of Zambezi FoX – international Freedom of Expression and Media Consultant So who are members of the SOS working group and what does the working group do? The SOS working group consists of a number of organizations including: COSATU, FXI, FXN, Misa-SA, MMA, NCRF and SASFED. The working group meets once every two month or more regularly if required. All major Campaign decisions are taken by the working group. Decisions are implemented by the SOS Campaign Coordinator. *What is SOS doing?* We are lobbying for a review of all government laws and policies to ensure the SABC is more accountable to us – listeners and viewers. We have started a range of campaigns to ensure that listeners and viewers are involved in defining what we want to see and hear on our public broadcaster. One of SOS’s major projects is to lobby the Department of Communications to review the policy and legislation governing the SABC. The current Broadcasting Act results from policy processes that are over a decade old. Parliament, the Department of Communications and indeed the SABC itself has acknowledged the need to review public broadcasting policy and to draft a new SABC Act. The Late Minister of Communications, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, in fact announced this in her budget vote speech in Parliament in 2008. In terms of the legislation there are a number of important issues that need to be addressed. We believe, these issues, once redrafted, will almost immediately resolve the ongoing crises at the SABC. They include: - Clarifying the vision and mission of the SABC including its Charter. The Charter is ill-defined, difficult to locate in the present legislation and thus difficult to enforce. (The SABC’s Charter sets the vision and mission for the SABC.) - Analysing and proposing alternatives to the present legal structure of the SABC including the transforming of the SABC into a Chapter Nine institution. (Chapter Nine of the Constitution deals with state institutions supporting constitutional democracy including bodies such as the Human Rights Commission. These bodies strengthen Constitutional democracy and their independence and impartiality are specifically protected and entrenched.) - Clarifying the role of key oversight structures including Parliament, ICASA, the Minister and Department of Communications, and the general public. The gaps in the present legislation have contributed to confusion and a “hands-off” approach by all of these, except, inappropriately, the late Minister. - Clarifying the role of the SABC Board versus management. Part of the crisis has been the lack of legitimacy of the Board due to the political interference in its appointment but also confusion has reigned because of the lack of clarity as regards the roles of the Board versus management. - Analysing and strengthening appointment and removal procedures as regards the Board. - Proposing alternatives to the SABC’s present financial model. The lion’s share of the SABC’s revenue is generated through advertising. This makes it difficult for the SABC to fulfill its major and complex public mandate including the provision of programming in all 11 official languages and significant local content requirements. *Other campaigns include:* - Support for the Freedom of Expression Institute’s campaign to revoke the SABC’s Articles of Association. These legal documents undermine the SABC’s independence by, for example, allowing the Minister to play a role in the appointment of the Group Chief Executive Officer; - Support for the Freedom of Expression Institute’s complaint to ICASA about the alleged breach of the SABC Charter as regards the “blacklisting” case; and - Submissions to ICASA on digital broadcasting issues.