Zuma's MK, SABC back in court over GNU usage
The MK Party claims the SABC is misleading South Africans by referring to the governing coalition of political parties as a Government of National Unity.
Jacob Zuma at an MK Party media briefing in Sandton, Johannesburg on 16 June 2024. Picture: Xanderleigh Dookey Makhaza/Eyewitness News
CAPE TOWN - The public broadcaster and the MK Party will face off in court again on Thursday over the use of the term Government of National Unity (GNU).
The MK Party claims the SABC is misleading South Africans by referring to the governing coalition of political parties as a Government of National Unity.
In response, the SABC is asking the Gauteng High Court to scrap the matter from the roll and to protect its right to freedom of expression.
At the heart of the MK's case is the SABC referencing the seventh administration as a Government of National Unity.
It’s asking the court to declare the use of the term in this context both invalid and unconstitutional.
The MK Party said President Cyril Ramaphosa’s original use of the term when he announced the formation of a new government was deliberately misleading and opportunistic, deeply inaccurate and logically flawed.
In an affidavit deposed by MK leader, Jacob Zuma, he said with the biggest and most far-reaching platform in the country, the public broadcaster has a duty to be accurate in informing the public.
In response, the SABC’s CEO, Nomsa Chabeli, said there’s no basis for the MK Party to dictate to the broadcaster how it should conduct its political reporting.
Besides, she added, the SABC did not coin the term to refer to the national government.
She said the MK’s court action was both vexatious and an abuse of court process, and the party had failed to show why this matter should be heard on an urgent basis.