The South African Broadcasting Corporation is standing firm that its decision to can political talk show Face the Nation is about the numbers, and not because of political fallout.
The Sunday Times set the nation talking this past weekend, with the story headlined: ‘Too hot to handle: ANC muscles SABC to axe “harsh” show’. The newspaper said, “Sunday Times understands the decision by the SABC to scrap its popular Face the Nation political talkshow appears to have been taken following complaints from key ANC and government officials, who are said to have accused host Clement Manyathela of being deliberately harsh on the ANC and the Presidency.”
The outcry was immediate. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, immediately responded. “This is a complete lie. There was no political pressure on the SABC to cancel the show. @TheRealClementM and @SABCNews must come out and communicate the real reason for the cancelation of the show,” he posted on X, where much of the action is taking place.
‘Complete lie’
Many pointed to an interview by Face the Nation host, Clement Manyathela, with Magwenya. Manyathela posted on X on 30 January: ‘WATCH : Is President Cyril Ramaphosa protecting his comrade Senzo Mchunu? I argued to Vincent Magwenya on #FaceTheNation that the Pres has a tendency to protect his comrades. He disagreed and I gave him examples.’
Magwenya disputed the interview had anything to do with the SABC’s decision. He told Sunday Times, “I don’t go onto radio or television shows expecting to be treated with kid gloves. I did not complain about my experience on Face the Nation with Clement.”
And on X, he wrote: ‘This is a complete lie. There was no political pressure on the SABC to cancel the show. @TheRealClementM and @SABCNews must come out and communicate the real reason for the cancelation of the show.’
To which Manyathela responded, “@SpokespersonRSA you are saying I must communicate the real reason as if I am the one that took the decision.The reason we were given by management is that, despite the show being one of their prominent shows and their ‘flagship’ show,they can’t afford it anymore.”
‘High cost structure’
The SABC sprang into action. By 10.44am on Sunday morning, corporate communications issued a statement saying the show’s “high cost structure” lay behind the decision.
“This includes a premium presenter fee, as well as additional costs arising from the presenter’s requirement to utilise his own dedicated producer, over and above standard SABC production allocations,” the SABC said in its statements.
It added, “When assessed against its performance, the programme has not delivered a return on investment commensurate with these costs. In its time slot, the programme has not achieved the SABC’s target of leading the market and has consistently ranked below competitors.”
While viewers certainly rated Face the Nation highly, it appears the SABC was not convinced it had a future in public broadcasting.
Sunday SABC statement
In the Sunday statement, it said it was important to clarify that Face The Nation was not a flagship programme within the SABC News portfolio and did not rank among the division’s top-performing current affairs titles, “which deliver significantly higher audiences across the full platform”.
But the SABC did not add numbers stand up its claim. It said editorial and programming decisions were informed by “comprehensive audience and performance data across the SABC News platform, with priority given to content that delivers scale, growth and public value”.
Held power to account
Manyathela didn’t respond, saying only: “I remain proud of the work we did on Face The Nation. Former Exec for News told us a year after we started that FTN brought in numbers on that slot that SABC has not seen in 4 years. We held power to account, asked tough questions even when it was uncomfortable. That work continues.”
And, “Thank you to all our viewers. And the politicians who came to our show even when they knew they will face tough questions, and yet they still submitted themselves to be held accountable. That is the leadership we need.”
The SABC announced on Friday that it had appointed veteran journalist Deirdre Uren as group executive in charge of news and current affairs. She had been in an acting position since January 2025.
Public outcry continues
Meanwhile, members of the public continue to vent their feelings over the issue. Too many years of the SABC making political decisions on programming have left viewers sceptical, to say the least.
