"Today I have called on President Jacob Zuma to establish a commission of inquiry into the ongoing collapse at the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), which has now reached boiling point following the firing of several senior journalists and reporters within the last 48 hours," Maimane said.

He said the inquiry should probe the SABC’s failure to function as a public broadcaster, its editorial policies because these were unconstitutional, reports of a directive not to give coverage to opposition parties, the inability of the broadcaster’s board to perform its functions and "the political capture of the SABC by the ANC and the deployment of Hlaudi Motsoengeng to the position of chief operations officer".

The call came in the wake of the dismissal of another four SABC journalists – Vuyo Mvoko‚ Thandeka Gqubule‚ Busisiwe Ntuli and Lukhanyo Calata — this week.

African News Agency