Axed editor hopeful of SABC case

Axed SABC contributing editor Vuyo Mvoko is confident that he has a strong case against the public broadcaster.

Johannesburg - Axed SABC contributing editor Vuyo Mvoko is confident that he has a strong case against the public broadcaster and that it will have to reinstate him.

Speaking in the high court in Joburg on Tuesday Mvoko told The Star that the corporation wasn't contesting any of the contentious allegations he had made against it. Mvoko's case was postponed to tomorrow because the court roll was full.

Counsel for both parties indicated that they expected arguments to take about half a day.

Mvoko, who was hired by the SABC on a three-year contract which ends in March 2018, was fired last month after he wrote an article for The Star criticising the censorship and culture of bullying at the corporation.

He and seven other SABC journalists were fired last month for challenging the broadcaster's editorial policy.

While his colleagues were reinstated, Mvoko was not.

Mvoko applied to the court for the enforcement of his contract after the SABC said he would no longer be used to produce programmes until their dispute was settled. He remained relatively upbeat yesterday, despite not earning an income during his dismissal.

"When you enter a fight and the fight is as important as this one, you know that there are losses to be incurred at various levels, it comes with the territory.

"You don't enter a big fight like this and hope to come out of it unscathed. That's the price you pay for speaking the truth and for standing for what is right," Mvoko said.

He was confident that his case against the broadcaster held weight. "The fact that they're contesting none of the substantive things we've put before court is perhaps an indication that someone is probably being vindictive, because I think everyone has seen that we have a strong case.

"I don't know why someone felt that we still have to go through this process. But we remain hopeful that those who are trying to drag it in different and false directions will be exposed for who they are."

On Thursday, moments before he was due to appear in court, Mvoko was told that he could have his position back if he retracted everything he had written and said about the public broadcaster. He turned it down.

On July 7, the SABC wrote to Mvoko, saying he had brought its name into disrepute and that it would not schedule him until the matter was resolved.

Mvoko argues that the SABC's take on the matter was wrong and that chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng, former acting group chief executive Jimi Matthews and former head of news Snuki Zikalala were criticised in The Star article for their perversion of the SABC's mission to inform and not to censor.

"The criticism of these three individuals was in protection of the SABC. To protect an organisation is not to bring it into disrepute," the argument states.

In the article, which was published on July 6, Mvoko wrote: "Many believe that Motsoeneng, like Zikalala, is the pawn of powerful people."

The Star

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