ANC STATEMENT IN THE PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE ON ZILLE BUYING AIRTIME BY MAX OZINSKY MPL

Are the explanations by the hon. Helen Zille on the payments to Heart FM and other radio stations believable? Day by day the charade of an open opportunity society becomes more and more of a sham.

The hon Premier told the House last week that,

"We went out with a proper open tender process where various tenders from various radio stations were considered and it has been completely open from the beginning."

She also told the Cape Argus on Friday that,

"I wanted to do so as well, so there was a tender process that culminated in the province and the city agreeing to share the costs of the programme..."

However documents of the City of Cape Town show that the City did not tender for its share of the HeartFM show. In fact mayor Plato asked the City Council to authorise a deviation from the budget to the amount of R247,500 for a radio show featuring the mayor and the hon Premier for the period May 2010 to February 2011?

In the debate in the City, ANC councillor Norma Gabriels even asked, "Is this an emergency, sole provider, or a deviation that must be avoided?  Must the election campaign of the DA be paid for by the city via a deviation?"

So clearly there was no open competitive tender process in the city, as demanded by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

I also note that in the interview with the Cape Argus the hon Premier says when asked if she approached other radio stations to host the program for free,

"It was Heart's original idea, and we did not then approach other radio stations to take over their idea."

This raises serious questions whether there was actually an open tender process.

Hon Zille also does not explain how Radio Zibonele got to host a show as well, whether they also submitted a tender and how HeartFM's idea became Zibonele's cash cow.

I have tried to find any reference to any tenders issued by the provincial government for these expenditure. To date I have not been able to find anything, but maybe it is hidden somewhere. We look forward to the hon Premier making these documents public, if they do exist!

The hypocrisy of the DA on payments to broadcasters has already been exposed. The DA seems to think that they can attack the SABC whilst paying HeartFM and Zibonele and possibly others. The difference is that in the HeartFM and Zibonele cases they were paying for airtime. What the SABC wanted them to pay was for the venues and the set up of the venues for the broadcast. There is a big difference between the two.

Statement issued by Max Ozinsky, ANC member of the Western Cape provincial legislature, September 14 2010

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