Court to hear Zuma, MK Party bid over SABC’s use of ‘GNU’ on Monday

MK Party leader Jacob Zuma announces the appointment of provincial and regional leadership in Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal on January 24, 2025.

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The High Court in Johannesburg will hear former President Jacob Zuma and the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party’s challenge of the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) use of the term government of national unity (GNU) tomorrow.

The matter, which was originally enrolled in the urgent court, was struck for lack of urgency in August.

The applicants were directed to seek a special allocation as the court was not satisfied that the matter can be dealt with in the urgent court nor that it was in the interests of justice to deal with the matter on an urgent basis.

The MK Party is asking the court, to amongst other things, declare the conduct of the SABC as unconstitutional and invalid.

An affidavit before the court by Zuma states that millions of South Africans only have access to the platforms of the public broadcaster as their primary news source.

He contends that what he terms as the “current arrangement in South Africa” as a result of “normal and ordinary democratic outcomes does not fit the definitional elements of a GNU” alleging that the use of the term “deliberately misleads the public”.

The SABC is opposing the application.