JIMI Matthews’ Damascene experience at the SABC — he resigned suddenly as acting CEO on Monday and admitted to being "complicit in many decisions which I am not proud of" — has given rise to speculation that there may have been more to Metro FM DJ Tbo Touch’s recent departure than he mentioned in his widely circulated but noncommittal resignation letter.
Touch (real name Thabo Molefe) raised eyebrows at the SA Music Awards not long ago, when he stood on stage next to SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng and hailed him as "the Oliver Tambo of broadcasting". The Insider was not alone in struggling to see how the DJ could justify comparing the censorial Motsoeneng to a revered freedom fighter who led a liberation movement for nearly 30 years, during which time that movement was banned in SA.
READ THIS: Matthews’s quitting was a stunt to foster idea of instability, says Zizi Kodwa
Especially since this was after Motsoeneng had banned footage of violent protests and the destruction of infrastructure from the airwaves or — more importantly to Molefe, perhaps — decreed that 90% of music played on SABC radio stations should be by local artists.
Tbo Touch had been known to play considerably more than one US rap or RMB track out of every 10 songs.
History repeats at SABC
THE more things change, the more they stay the same. In Robert Horwitz’s 2001 book Communication and Democratic Reform in South Africa, the author, quoting from the SABC’s 1976 annual report, noted: "… the SABC legitimised its slanted coverage of the Soweto uprising as a way to avoid ‘falling into the trap — as has happened so often in other parts of the world — of being an instrument for promoting unrest and panic’."
• Radio presenter Tbo Touch resigns from SABC’s Metro FM
Fast-forward 40 years and the new political watchdogs at the state-run broadcaster have, um, fallen into the same trap, by ordering a ban on coverage of violent protests across the country against a lack of service delivery and political appointees foisted on communities. What was that about those who refuse to learn from history?
Prettiest goat crowned
THE Lithuanian village of Ramygala held its annual beauty pageant on Sunday, the top prize going to a 16-month-old female goat called Demyte, or "Little Spot". Reuters reports that about 500 people braved the summer heat to attend a parade in the winner’s honour.
• Do you have juicy gossip from the world of business or politics? Or just a quirky or funny story to tell? Send your scurrilous scuttlebutt to The Insider at [email protected] and it may just be published in Business Day and BDlive
Tbo Touch. Picture: SOWETAN
JIMI Matthews’ Damascene experience at the SABC — he resigned suddenly as acting CEO on Monday and admitted to being "complicit in many decisions which I am not proud of" — has given rise to speculation that there may have been more to Metro FM DJ Tbo Touch’s recent departure than he mentioned in his widely circulated but noncommittal resignation letter.
Touch (real name Thabo Molefe) raised eyebrows at the SA Music Awards not long ago, when he stood on stage next to SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng and hailed him as "the Oliver Tambo of broadcasting". The Insider was not alone in struggling to see how the DJ could justify comparing the censorial Motsoeneng to a revered freedom fighter who led a liberation movement for nearly 30 years, during which time that movement was banned in SA.
READ THIS: Matthews’s quitting was a stunt to foster idea of instability, says Zizi Kodwa
Especially since this was after Motsoeneng had banned footage of violent protests and the destruction of infrastructure from the airwaves or — more importantly to Molefe, perhaps — decreed that 90% of music played on SABC radio stations should be by local artists.
Tbo Touch had been known to play considerably more than one US rap or RMB track out of every 10 songs.
History repeats at SABC
THE more things change, the more they stay the same. In Robert Horwitz’s 2001 book Communication and Democratic Reform in South Africa, the author, quoting from the SABC’s 1976 annual report, noted: "… the SABC legitimised its slanted coverage of the Soweto uprising as a way to avoid ‘falling into the trap — as has happened so often in other parts of the world — of being an instrument for promoting unrest and panic’."
• Radio presenter Tbo Touch resigns from SABC’s Metro FM
Fast-forward 40 years and the new political watchdogs at the state-run broadcaster have, um, fallen into the same trap, by ordering a ban on coverage of violent protests across the country against a lack of service delivery and political appointees foisted on communities. What was that about those who refuse to learn from history?
Prettiest goat crowned
THE Lithuanian village of Ramygala held its annual beauty pageant on Sunday, the top prize going to a 16-month-old female goat called Demyte, or "Little Spot". Reuters reports that about 500 people braved the summer heat to attend a parade in the winner’s honour.
• Do you have juicy gossip from the world of business or politics? Or just a quirky or funny story to tell? Send your scurrilous scuttlebutt to The Insider at [email protected] and it may just be published in Business Day and BDlive
