State Television Channel Cancels Critical Mbeki Documentary

South Africa's public broadcaster was embroiled in a censorship row yesterday after it cancelled a TV documentary critical of Thabo Mbeki. The ditching of the show, shortly before it was due to be aired, prompted accusations that the corporation was intimidated by the government.

Critics said it proved that what was once a mouthpiece for the apartheid regime had transferred its bias to the country's new ruling party, the African National Congress.

The broadcaster denied betraying a mandate to be independent and said the documentary was dropped because it was unbalanced and defamed the president, Mr Mbeki. The decision was based on legal advice and not because it was "scared of big brother Mbeki", said Dali Mpofu, the chief executive.

The half-hour programme was in a flagship series of unauthorised profiles of public figures that the corporation had billed as controversial. Scheduled for a prime-time evening slot on May 17, the programme, Unauthorised: Mbeki, focused on the rise of the present-day president, who succeeded Nelson Mandela in 1998 as arguably the most powerful leader in Africa.

Under Mr Mbeki South Africa has enjoyed political stability and economic growth but been scarred by arguments over the HIV/Aids pandemic and by the internal ANC battle to succeed him.

The corporation's political coverage can seem deferential, with government statements often reported with little interrogation. The "unauthorised" series was seen as an attempt to be bolder.

The Mbeki programme, made by independent filmmakers Ben Cashdan and Redi Direko, is based on interviews with the leader's mother and others, and contains rarely seen archive footage.

The opposition Democratic Alliance, and the Freedom of Expression Institute, said the affair smacked of kowtowing to the ANC and the Mbeki faction, which is locked in a power struggle with supporters of the party's deputy, Jacob Zuma.