My Father Died for This. Lukhanyo Calata
was at this point that Lukhanyo informed me he had already accepted an invitation for an in-studio interview with eNCA, the SABC’s rival news broadcaster, for later that evening. I did not object to his doing the interview and, having had my say – impressing upon him the fact that he no longer had the luxury of making decisions on his own – I took up my rightful place as my husband’s main supporter (and cheerleader) in what in hindsight was the most pivotal moment of our lives together so far.
The next day, Lukhanyo and Kwezi graced the front page of the Cape Argus. Admittedly, I was extremely proud of my two boys.
LUKHANYO
Jimi Matthews was a veteran broadcast journalist, who had cut his teeth as a news cameraman and reporter, and was particularly active in the turbulent Eighties – probably the worst of the apartheid years. He was a role model to me – at least until the point of his resignation from the SABC. I felt Jimi should have expressed what he wrote in his resignation letter while he was still employed by the SABC. In my interview with Gasant and his deputy editor, Lance Witten, I recall saying, ‘Jimi’s resignation had hurt me personally because my father died for the freedom enjoyed by so many in South Africa today.’ I felt he had made a mockery of the sacrifices of my family, of his own family, and those of countless other families who had fought and lost their loved ones for us to get to this point as a nation. I told them, ‘I had to speak up while I was still at the SABC.’ I could and would not wait until my resignation before I spoke out about the dastardly decisions the SABC management were busy taking.
My statement had voiced a deep sense of frustration and despair, which, I realised later, was shared by many South Africans with regard to the prevailing situation in the country. What was happening at the SABC reflected what was happening at many – if not all – state-owned entities. Almost everyone my family and I met and spoke to in the days and weeks following the publishing of the statement was relieved, with many celebrating the fact that someone had finally had the guts to speak out against the daft decisions of the SABC’s management. I had fired the first salvo, they said.
Abigail also made me realise that, despite my being just 34 years old at the time, the public had responded to what she called ‘an inherent moral authority’ I possessed. She believed it stemmed not only from the legacy of activism left by my father but also that of my great-grandfather, Canon James Arthur Calata, a prominent black leader in the Anglican Church in the Eastern Cape. More significantly, though, my great-grandfather had served both as president of the Cape ANC as well as the movement’s national secretary-general from 1936–1949. His years in that office remain among the longest for any secretary-general in the 106-year history of this liberation movement.
ABIGAIL
South Africans had responded with overwhelming positivity to Lukhanyo’s statement, and soon my husband was no longer mine. Kwezi and I now had to share him with the rest of the country. Everyone wanted a piece of him in those first few days following the release of the statement. Practically every news outlet called, requesting interviews. We were happy to share him, though – particularly as I now believed with every fibre of my being that he was doing the right thing and that, whatever the outcome, we, as a family, would be all right.
We didn’t have to wait long for the SABC to respond. Just four days after the release of the statement, Lukhanyo was charged with breaching the SABC’s code of conduct. His charge sheet read:
‘Re: DISCIPLINARY HEARING
You are herewith notified to attend a disciplinary hearing to be held of Friday, 1 July 2016 at 09:00 in ASD Boardroom, Room 2442 of the Radio Park Building of the SABC Offices in Johannesburg, in order to investigate the following alleged offenses brought against you:
CHARGE 1
NON-COMPLIANCE WITH THE DUTIES OF YOUR CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT
alternatively
CONTRAVENTION OF SABC RULES & REGULATIONS
In that
You in your capacity as a Reporter, for Parliament Television News in Cape Town, allegedly liaised with the media i.e Cape Argus (28 June 2016), Star (28 June 2016), Sowetan (28 June 2016), eNCA (Interviews conducted on 27 & 28 June 2016) and Radio 702 (interviews conducted on 27 & 28 June 2016) without having had permission to do so.
In doing so it is alleged that you contravened Regulation 2 (d) of the SABC’s Personnel Regulations i.e.
“An employee:
(d) Shall not without prior written consent of the Group Chief Executive, make any comments in the media …”
Should these facts be proven it will constitute an act of non-compliance with the duties of your contract of employment on your part alternatively contravening SABC rules and regulations.’
This was the official charge. The unofficial charge, as we all knew, was that Lukhanyo had dared to speak out against the despotic rule of the SABC’s COO, Hlaudi Motsoeneng. This is the same man whom the Western Cape High Court would later find to be ‘unqualified to hold any position at the public broadcaster’.
Lukhanyo’s charge sheet was sent to his work email address, which he could not access from home. He only became aware of the charges against him the following week when he returned from leave.
So, instead of appearing before a disciplinary panel on Friday, 1 July 2016, Lukhanyo, Kwezi, and I spent the morning protesting outside the SABC’s offices in Sea Point. We were asked to be part of a picket organised by the Cape Town advocacy group, Right2Know Campaign. We wanted to voice our dissatisfaction with the SABC’s decision to ban the broadcast of violent service delivery protests. In criticising this directive, Lukhanyo – inadvertently and unbeknown to him at the time – had joined six of his Johannesburg colleagues who had also opposed this directive.
Three of them, Thandeka Gqubule, Foeta Krige, and Suna Venter, were by then already suspended. They had raised their objections in a line-talk discussion about the directive not to cover a protest by the Right2Know Campaign right on the SABC’s doorstep in Auckland Park, Johannesburg. Line-talk meetings are for editors and producers to discuss how to cover the top stories of the day. Three other SABC employees, Jacques Steenkamp, Krivani Pillay, and Busisiwe Ntuli, would under normal circumstances not have done anything wrong when they sent a letter to news managers requesting a meeting with them to clarify some of Motsoeneng’s pronouncements. Under the abnormal circumstances prevailing at the SABC at the time, however, this innocent letter had become an offence punishable by dismissal. Another SABC employee, Vuyo Mvoko, took a page from Lukhanyo’s script and went on to write a scathing letter, titled ‘My Hell at SABC’, which The Star and its sister publications carried on their front pages on 6 July 2016. Thandeka, Suna, Busisiwe, Krivani, Jacques, Vuyo, Foeta, and Lukhanyo – or ‘the rebels’, as Lukhanyo often refers to them – became known as the SABC 8.
On 8 July 2016, Lukhanyo and his colleagues were informed of more charges levelled against them by their employer. This time, notices in terms of Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act were issued.
Sections of their charge sheets read as follows:
‘You are hereby notified in terms of Schedule 8 of the Labour Relations Act no 66 of 1995 that allegations have been received that you are continuing to commit further acts of misconduct after receiving your letter informing you of your disciplinary hearing in the following respects:
On Sunday, 3 July 2016 you caused an article to be published in the Sunday World newspaper thereby criticising and displaying disrespect and persistence in your refusal to comply with an instruction pertaining to the editorial policy of the SABC as well as the directive not to broadcast visuals/audio of the destruction of property during protest actions.’
The letters end with:
‘It undermines the editorial responsibility and authority of the SABC as vested upon its Chief Operating Officer in terms of paragraph 2 of the SABC Revised Editorial Policies, 2016.’
Outside of the SABC, the eight enjoyed great support from the public and their peers. On 9 July 2016, they were recognised by