SABC botch-up of Cyril Ramaphosa’s address ‘hurt’ state

The government was “hurt” when the SABC blundered by airing an unedited tape of a prerecorded address by President Cyril Ramaphosa, in which he made a mistake.

A few seconds into his TV address to the nation two weeks ago, Ramaphosa made a mistake while delivering the message.

He flags it by saying: “Let’s start again, I made a mistake.”

The SABC has since revealed that the broadcast of the incorrect clip was a well-considered and co-ordinated act of sabotage to bring the corporation and Ramaphosa into disrepute.

It apologised to the president and suspended four employees.

“We were hurt. We were very hurt,” minister in the presidency responsible for planning, monitoring and evaluation Jackson Mthembu said on Thursday.

Mthembu accused the broadcaster of throwing Ramaphosa and the government under the bus, and making a joke of his address.

“I felt very bad because I was waiting patiently to hear my president speak to the nation on very important matters – the killing of women by men in our country and attacks on foreign nationals and fellow South Africans by some in our country.

“And what does the SABC do, or some people in the SABC?

“They make a joke out of it. Yes, that’s what we sounded like,” he said.