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Simon Tebele (34) is an input-editor for television news at SABC. After a teaching job he joined television in 1982. He co-ordinates news from the entire country. ‘We decide here,’ he told me, ‘what is to be shown, whether it is a minor or a major story, and what treatment the information should get. From here we feed the chaps in the newsroom. The gist of our work is to constantly ask ourselves what information the average South African black should be getting. The only problem we have here is that some black viewers feel that their personal views should be reflected more on TV. We consider it our prime task to inform and to educate.’
I asked if whites were also employed in black TV programs. Tebele: ‘Yes, I have whites working with me, like Willy Brasser, with whom you spoke yourself. He and I hold the same position.’ He said that blacks were also working on the staffs of Channels I and IV, serving mainly white audiences in English and Afrikaans. ‘There are, for instance, blacks working in their editing department,’ Simon said.
I cannot understand, why, for instance, European TV channels never show black South African television programs. Aside from magnificent music and dance programs, there are black movies, children's programs, films about social events in townships, you name it. Most foreigners do not even have an inkling that South African television offers complete black programs, including newscasts in the various black languages. Last year, the SABC produced a documentary on black achievers belonging to Willie Ramoshaba's Black Achievers Foundation. I managed to get a copy and took it to AVRO television station in Hilversum, in the Netherlands. They considered it of no importance to include in their programs. What the documentary, of course, really did was contradict their preconceived ideas about South African society. The material simply offered views conflicting with generally-accepted ideas about the living hell that South Africa is supposed to be to all blacks.
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