SABC drops Mbeki documentary application

The application was to be brought against Broad Daylight Films and Ben Cashdan. In the statement, the SABC said it planned to screen the documentary, titled Unauthorised: Thabo Mbeki, itself. ‘The SABC, as the rightful owner of the documentary, still intends to screen the documentary on SABC 3 on a date to be announced. Stringent steps will be taken against any party which undermines the SABC’s ownership of the documentary and the large financial investments we made in its production. No party is entitled to act in any manner which diminishes the value of the property of the SABC without any consequences,’ it said. The Mail & Guardian newspaper, along with the Harold Wolpe Memorial Trust, planned to screen it as part of their Critical Thinking Forum from July 19 to July 26 at venues across the country. Full report in The Times

The SABC agreed to a screening of the documentary in Johannesburg last night. Future screenings will be planned in partnership between the SABC, the producers, the Mail & Guardian and the Harold Wolpe Memorial Trust, which helped organise the current screenings for the M&G\'s Critical Thinking Forum. The Critical Thinking Forum is a series of debate sessions on controversial topics, hosted by the M&G, says a Mail & Guardian Online report. ‘We welcome the outcome and believe that freedom of expression and our national spirit of debate is better served in this way rather than through court action,’ M&G editor Ferial Haffajee and the documentary\'s co-producers, Ben Cashdan and Redi Direko, said. Full report on the Mail & Guardian Online site What the documentary says about Mbeki