Remember the bit about being the host of a TV show and remaining impartial and allowing guests the chance to talk? Eben Jansen, the anchor of SABC Newsroom, seems to have forgotten that broadcasting lesson after he became involved in a heated debate with an EFF spokesperson live on air Thursday.

It all starts getting heated from about 21:30 in, where we must give Eben props for somehow finding a way to mention the Mayans, the Red Indians and the Aboriginal people of Australia. It is after this that EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi starts to lose patience with Jansen and things get pretty awkward. Here’s News24:

“Your question is fundamentally wrong,” Ndlozi replies. Jansen interrupts Ndlozi in a bid to press home his point. Ndlozi smiles, waves his hand at Jansen and says: “I’m trying to demonstrate the intellectual bankruptcy of your question”…

Jansen continued shouting over Ndlozi, who asked him if he would allow him to speak. Jansen cut him off with “actually I am not going to allow you to speak anymore because we can’t have a conversation, let’s move on”, and a bewildered-looking Ndlozi disappeared from the screen next to Jansen.

Jansen immediately came under fire on social media, with many Twitter users outraged at his treatment of Ndlozi. The SABC was eventually forced to take action, with this from News24 again:

“We were unhappy with what happened and have taken Eben off air. He will be off air until the matter has been dealt with between us and him,” SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said…

I guess the heated nature of the in-studio discussion is reflective of the way that the statue issue has polarised many South Africans and caused much debate. Hey, at least no one touched anyone on their studio…

[source:news24]