South Africa SANEF said it believed self-regulation should be executed at arm’s length by an independent regulatory mechanism like the Press Council and not by employees of media companies. To use an internal ombudsman as a replacement of independent arbiters was unacceptable and it called on Independent Media to rescind the decision. It has been noted that Independent – which has included a waiver clause in its tribunal structure – runs the risk of having its operation declared unconstitutional in light of the retired judge’s advice. SABC operations During the year, the operations of the state-run South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) came under critical review by civil society organisations, among them the SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition and Media Monitoring Africa, critical staff members and interested parties. Some observers warned that the SABC was deviating from its declared role as a public broadcaster and was being turned into a state broadcaster, serving the interests of the ruling party as it was during the apartheid era under the National Party. Journalists sharply criticised an editorial instruction that visuals of violence and destruction of property during protest demonstrations were not to be broadcast and staff members said they were told not to use stories that spoke ill of President Jacob Zuma. Eight staff members who objected to this departure from independent and public interest journalism were dismissed, later being dubbed the “SABC Eight”. Staff members spoke of the reckless reign of impunity and the culture of tyranny and fear, interference and censorship introduced by the Chief Operating Officer, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, who was found by the former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to have lied about having a school leaving certificate when interviewed for a journalist’s job at the SABC and when he was irregularly appointed to a senior position in the SABC with his salary being improperly raised. SABC staff also alleged that the SABC paid for the establishment of rival broadcaster ANN7 and funded the daily newspaper The New Age’s promotional events. The Acting Group CEO of the SABC, Jimi Matthews, the most senior official at the corporation, resigned in disgust from the public broadcaster. In his resignation letter, in which he referred to the “corrosive atmosphere” inside the corporation, he also stated: “for many months I have compromised values that I hold dear under the mistaken belief that I could be more effective inside the SABC than outside…. What is happening at the SABC is wrong and I can no longer be a part of it”. The disclosures about the destructive management practices at the SABC resulted in civil society media freedom organisations and journalists holding pickets outside at the SABC offices in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, and Sea Point, Cape Town, on July 1 in protest against censorship and in support of the staff who protested and took a stand on journalistic principle. Motsoeneng denied there was a crisis and described the protests as a campaign to destabilise the public broadcaster.