The SABC simply does not care about traditional churches.
This was the reaction from traditional church leaders upon hearing that the SABC is planning to give them an opportunity to appear on television.
The leader of the Zion Christian Church’s breakaway church, the Zion Creationist Church (ZCC), Barnabas Maditobane Shego Lekganyane, said that the SABC has always side-lined traditional churches.
Traditional churches often ignored
“One would expect the SABC to be at the forefront of uniting us, unfortunately they’re not doing that. Traditional churches are side-lined, our church content is not on SABC TV, and we are wondering why. It’s as if we don’t matter to them. Yet we’re such a big audience in terms of viewership,” said Lekganyane.
A spokesperson for the Shembe Church, Thokozani Mncwabe, told Sunday World that the SABC has never shown interest in their churches.
“I’d be surprised if the SABC actually dedicates a slot or a channel for traditional churches. I say this because they’ve never shown interest in our church programmes,” said Mncwabe.
“Every year, we have big events (Imigidi), and they are aware, but they [ignore us]. The only time they get interested is when we are fighting among ourselves and attending court cases. Then you’ll see the SABC.
“Despite being ignored by the SABC, we’ve grown and impacted many lives across the African continent. Nonetheless, we welcome their suggestion and will wait to see if they commit,” said Mncwabe.
Western churches favoured
Archbishop Nicholas Sangweni, leader of the White Church Apostolic Church in Zion of Damaseku, shared the same sentiments.
“It’s disheartening that during Easter holidays, the SABC dedicates so much time to Western churches and forgets about us.
“We’ve reached a point where we’ve accepted that we don’t matter to the SABC. We’ve accepted that we’re only good for paying TV licences and watching the charismatic churches. However, we are happy to hear that they are planning to do something about it.”
Last month, chairperson of the SABC, Khathutshelo Ramukumba, told the Portfolio Committee on Sports, Arts and Culture that they will be including traditional churches in their television programmes.
SABC makes promises
“The SABC Plus platform offers us the flexibility of multiple channels. This means we can make room for content from churches such as ZCC, Shembe, and Zion. Perhaps they could even have a dedicated channel of their own,” said Ramukumba.
Ramukumba’s promise came after a member of the uMkhonto Wesizwe Party, Vusi Shongwe, complained that the public broadcaster prioritised Western churches over traditional churches.
At the time, Shongwe said: “The religious sector complains that the SABC does not broadcast the content of indigenous churches. The same content is thriving on other non-SABC channels.
“I’d like to know why the SABC is rejecting indigenous content. We don’t see content from indigenous churches such as AmaZion, ZCC, or Shembe. Instead, we see a predominance of Western and charismatic churches. There’s a longstanding concern that charismatic churches always receive preferential treatment from the SABC.”
SABC, Mmoni Ngubane, was approached for comment. She said: “As a major global player in the highly competitive broadcasting industry, the SABC cannot at any given point outline and discuss its strategic initiatives in the public domain.
“The overall strategic direction of the SABC is outlined in the corporate plan, which is a public document. However, the implementation plans remain confidential.”
