The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) argues that the SABC is being biased by referring to the government as the government of national unity (GNU).
The MKP challenged the SABC use of the term GNU to refer to the current government, dragging the organisation to the Johannesburg High Court.
MKP lawyer Dali Mpofu told the court on Monday that the SABC, as a publicly funded broadcaster, has a responsibility to provide impartial reporting.
Mpofu asserted that the broadcaster should instead refer to the administration as an “ANC-DA coalition” to accurately reflect the political arrangement.
“The SABC is a broadcaster funded by the taxpayer to provide the highest standards of journalism and fair, unbiased, impartial, and independent news coverage,” Mpofu said.
“While a private citizen or broadcaster may freely take political stances and promote party-political objectives, a public broadcaster may not use public money to do so.”
He argued that the term GNU is not merely a label but a specific political model, emphasising that it carries significant implications.
Statement of intent
He said the ANC came up with the GNU concept during a meeting at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg on June 6, 2024, but the agreement was formalised in the statement of intent, to which he refers to as a contract in legal terms.
Mpofu highlighted that this statement of intent was signed by ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and DA federal chairperson Helen Zille.
According to Mpofu, the agreement included a precondition set by the DA to exclude both the MKP and EFF from the coalition, which he said effectively sidelines political parties that represent about 25% of the electorate.
“It is common cause that it was a pre-condition set by the DA that the purported government must exclude the MK Party and the Economic Freedom Fighters, which parties represent approximately 25% of South African electorates,” he said.
He further argued that this exclusion stops roughly 4-million South Africans from political participation and decision-making in the country’s future.