SAFM apologises for Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma interview after watchdog upholds complaint

SAFM has apologised after South Africa’s broadcasting watchdog ruled that the station failed to properly challenge or qualify serious claims made during an interview with March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma.

The interview aired on The National Pulse on June 3. Broadcasting Complaints Commission commissioner Advocate Ben Winks upheld a complaint by social justice activist Christopher Rutledge, who argued that SAFM had breached the Free-to-Air Code.

The code requires broadcasters to clearly identify information based on opinion, supposition, rumour or allegations. Rutledge said Ngobese-Zuma had made inflammatory claims about migrants, crime, civil society organisations, corruption and national security without evidence or independent verification.

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The issue is whether SAFM complied with its obligations under the code when it broadcast a series of serious and highly inflammatory factual allegations concerning migrants, crime, civil society organisations, corruption and national security without requiring evidence, without verification and without clearly informing listeners that the allegations were disputed and unverified.

Among her assertions were that foreign nationals committed 60% of serious crimes in Gauteng, that foreign-funded organisations in South Africa used their money to buy arms, and that bombs and explosives were entering the country. She also claimed that foreign military bases operated in South Africa and that foreign nationals avoided prosecution by paying police.

The complaint noted that SAFM had not asked Ngobese-Zuma to provide evidence or clearly told listeners that the allegations remained disputed and unverified. The interview had followed an earlier segment with GroundUp deputy editor Daniel Steyn, who disputed claims made by March and March about immigrants. The commission’s finding led the SABC to issue a public apology.

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The code requires that where information is based upon opinion, supposition, rumour or allegations, it must be presented in a manner that clearly indicates that is the case. This did not occur.