A few months ago, when Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s name once again grabbed headlines across the country, we chuckled to ourselves at what looked like another inept top brass appointment shooting himself in the foot.

If the SABC failed to entertain, their Chief Operating Officer (COO) never did, and every time he released a statement he basically wrote our stories for us.

But then, at first slowly and now brazenly, he began to take the SABC in a direction that is nothing short of a state mouthpiece and propaganda machine.

We dabbled earlier this week HERE, pointing out some of those ludicrous recent requests, but now it is becoming clear that it’s all beyond a joke.

If you think I’m being melodramatic let’s consider the Daily Maverick’s latest piece, titled ‘His Master’s Voice: Why Hlaudi Motsoeneng is democratic SA’s biggest threat‘.

Yes, that in a country where Jacob Zuma is our president.

Here’s their opening paragraph:

Until this week, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the holder of all power at the public broadcaster, was being written off as a megalomaniac on his own frolic at the SABC. But the ANC has now shown its hand, coming out in defence of Motsoeneng’s total onslaught. Motsoeneng is moulding his own brand of political indoctrination out of the worst models of propaganda in history and taking media freedom hostage as he does so. This is no longer a laughing matter and society should not be looking away any more.

Right, they’ve set the scene nicely. Some more of those recent decisions that have seen journalists protesting across the country this morning:

He has unchecked power, including over programming and news. Motsoeneng has gone from silly antics, such as ordering television news coverage of his colourful life, including a group of religious leaders praying over him and receiving a “bride” as a gift, to censoring news and suspending journalists…

“If the SABC releases a statement, our employees can’t say ‘the SABC said this’; they must say ‘we are saying this or have decided on that’. They can’t report like other broadcasters when they are part of any SABC decision,” Motsoeneng told the paper. “I have been thinking maybe our employees should have uniforms so that they can understand unity,” he professed…

“I don’t even know what censorship is. What is this censorship thing? It is English so I don’t know it. There is no censorship here,” he said.

That would be the ostrich with its head in the sand we mocked recently (HERE), when the SABC turned a blind eye to the Tshwane unrest.

So why are the ANC so quick to back Hlaudi, attacking resigned SABC CEO Jimi Matthews and defending him?

A report by Media Monitoring Africa on media coverage of the 2016 local government elections shows that the ANC already enjoys the bulk of the voice, much higher than it did during the 2014 election campaign. The ANC now has 57% of the total media coverage compared to 38% in 2014. In comparison, the Democratic Alliance’s coverage dropped from 25% in 2014 to 16% now. The Economic Freedom Fighters’ coverage dropped from 13% to 11%…

That’s just one aspect, because as his influence enters houses around the country the effects could be far-ranging:

He is able to do much more damage to a free and democratic society than any other state institution can by controlling access to information and people’s perspectives. Motsoeneng’s evasion of court rulings and legal procedures adds to the culture of impunity in our country. His assault on media freedom is an assault on the Constitution and the fundamentals of our democracy…

Motsoeneng is as conceited as he is dangerous. Left unchecked, it is not just the SABC that he will destroy. It should not be forgotten that Goebbels succeeded Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, if only for a day.

Motsoeneng’s ambitions and political backers have brought him this far. Left unchecked, the SABC is unlikely to be the end of the road for the invincible Mr Motsoeneng. After successfully penetrating our living rooms, our workspaces and our minds, the sky is the limit in terms of what Motsoeneng will do next. The onus is upon us, South Africans, to decide if we will let him.

I’m not a religious man, nor am I partial to prayer, but I’d send out a Hail Mary to whatever’s upstairs if this power-hungry autocrat ever took a run at leading our country.

[source:dailymaverick]