A Different Type of Racism In South Africa: Part 2

I continue today with the matter of Paula Slier. In case you missed it, I recommend you first read yesterday's post entitled "A Different Type of Racism in South Africa" for the story background.

Following is a selected portion of the "SABC Commission of Enquiry into Blacklisting and Related Matters Report". This report was first published by the South African "Mail & Guardian" on October 13th, after the SABC released only part of the report on October 12th and claimed that the commission found no evidence of any blacklisting. The SABC then sued to have the report taken off the Mail & Guardian's website. A judge ruled in favor of the Mail & Guardian and said "the content of the report is of extreme importance to the public".

Paula Slier (page 39 of the report)

5.37. Paula Slier is a freelance correspondent who, at one stage, was based in the Middle East. The SABC had a contract with her. She is a former award-winning SABC journalist. At the time of Yasser Arafat’s grave illness, she happened to be in Ramallah. There was uncertainty as to Mr Arafat’s state of health. He was hospitalised in Paris where certain medical reports were being released but it was uncertain, at least for a while, whether he was alive or dead. Ms Slier had been filing reports from Ramallah concerning the state of Mr Arafat’s health. The then head of news, Ms Philippa Green, received a direct instruction from Dr Zikalala not to use Paula Slier. So emphatic was this instruction that a note was placed on the system to the following effect:

“URGENT NOTE: ALL DESKS
The MD of News, Dr Snuki Zikalala has directed that NO MATERIAL OR STORY SUPPLIED BY JOURNALIST PAULA SLIER should be used by SABC news desks until further notice. Dr Zikalala says this instruction applies to all units of SABC news.”

5.38. Dr Zikalala elaborated about his giving an instruction not to use Paula Slier. It is important that his justification be quoted verbatim:

“Paula Slier, I’ll give you an example. Paula Slier, why I said we should not use Paula Slier. What happened is that during the time of when Arafat passed away, when Arafat passed away Paula Slier used to work for us as a journalist and Paula Slier was much more biased towards what’s happening in Israel. It was a Jewish war and especially the Middle East. We knew exactly her bias because she once wrote an article justifying the separation of the Palestinians, which was very, very negative towards us. From the movement where I come from we support PLO. But she supported what’s happening in Israel. And then I said to them Paula Slier we cannot use her on the Middle East issue because we know where she stands. We need somebody who’s impartial. We do have a correspondent there, I said lets use the correspondent … that person is impartial, does not take sides. Paula Slier on the Middle East issue we can bring in all the tapes that she’s written, she takes sides. I’ve got that editorial responsibility to do that. That’s why I’m employed, to do checks and balance. I said no, you can’t you can’t undermine the Palestinian struggle, you can’t. for me it’s a principle issue.”

5.39. We leave aside the question of whether or not Ms Slier had taken sides in the manner suggested by Dr Zikalala. Even if she had, and we have no evidence to support this, the circumstances concerning Mr Arafat’s state of health was not an issue which impacted upon Ms Slier’s opinions, if any, concerning the Middle East conflict. Most importantly, however, was that the instruction was motivated by a political position adopted by Dr Zikalala which has no place whatsoever in a public broadcaster. For Dr Zikalala, it was a question of support for the PLO which, from the perspective of his “movement” was a matter of principle.

5.40. We find that a direct instruction was given by Dr Zikalala not to use Paula Slier (for news reporting at least) for improper reasons. It was in direct conflict with the SABC’s policies and Code.

In summary, Paula Slier was fired by Head of News Snuki Zikalala because she is Jewish and therefore must be biased toward Israel. The SABC Commission which investigated the charges found that Slier, an award winning reporter, was not biased, and Zikalala's firing of Slier was based on the political motivations of the PLO supporter. The SABC tried to cover up the story by releasing only selected findings of the commission.

A lot of heads need to roll. Email the SABC and tell them what you think.

info@sabc.co.za

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