Makana has lodged a complaint with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa against the SABC over its recent coverage of the use of the bucket system in parts of the municipality.
Makana has lodged a complaint with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa against the SABC over its recent coverage of the use of the bucket system in parts of the municipality.
The SABC 1 programme, Cutting Edge, and a subsequent news bulletin, showed footage in Kwa-Ndancama, where the system is in use, as well as employees from the municipality's sanitation department as they collected and returned the buckets in the early hours.
The municipality is alleging that the interview for the programme was secured in an unethical fashion. According to Makana Municipality spokesperson, Thandy Matebese, the producer of Cutting Edge, Zinhle Dlamini, said they sought "to highlight the importance of people who do jobs that society views as odd and unimportant. We would also like to celebrate these unsung heroes".
Matebese said the final product instead focused on the purported lack of service-delivery in the municipality. He said Municipal Manager Ntombi Baart had been misrepresented, in that her explanation of why the bucket system still existed in the informal settlement had been cut out. "This unbalanced reporting is unacceptable," said Matebese.
Grocott's Mail has previously reported that bones excavated in Kwa-Ndancama in 2007, believed to be the remains of soldiers who fell during the Frontier War of 1819 had delayed the development of RDP houses and water-borne toilets.
SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago, said, "We obviously can't say much about it if the matter has been put through to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission." He said they respected the procedures of the commission.
