Special Hearings — Media Hearings — 1997-09-15

LOUIS RAUBENHEIMER: I am aware of a colleague of mine, Mr Malan Otto, who was then head of radio news who received such a request, instruction, it was an instruction which the Minister at the time, and I honestly can't remember his name, referred to the head of news and Mr Malan's point of view at the time was you are speaking  to the wrong person, I must reflect the news of the day and  the Minister was referred to the head of news.  And what happened after that I cannot testify to.

<UNKNOWN>: Yes we always have a problem of limited time.  But what about bodies such as the Broederbond? That is a body the name of which arises within the context of the SABC and the propaganda context also of manipulation, what is your experience in that regard?

LOUIS RAUBENHEIMER: Mr Chair it is already public record, knowledge, that I was a member of the Broederbond for approximately until 1990. In numerous discussions with a journalist who is also present here, Mr Serfontein, I stated that I am of the opinion that the role of this organisation was over-estimated by quite a number of people.  The activities of that organisation with which I had been involved were limited to a monthly meeting at the house of one of the members of a certain group which varied in size from five to approximately 12 or 15 people. Their study documents were dealt with was a rather theoretical type of meeting which dealt with arguments over issues of the day and very little action stemmed from these  meetings.  Another element was the annual meeting of this organisation where there was normally a speaker dealing with a current issue, addressed the meeting in this regard, and replied to certain questions in this regard.  I never returned from one of these meetings with either an instruction or a very strong idea that I had to follow a certain direction or promote a certain line of thought in terms of my work at the SABC.  I think it would also be fair to state that during  the last two years of my membership of that organisation the majority of the study documents which were circulated  dealt more with the promotion of the reformation process than hampering it.  If you wish so, some of the quotations which I wanted to read to you, if you will allow me the time, from the comments of the last few years you could possibly see as a reflection of some of the study documents because they dealt with the essential nature of finding a long term permanent solution for this country because everybody was acutely aware of the problems experienced by the country at the time  And in a certain sense  I am speaking out of turn because I am no longer a member of that organisation but I think I have to state that in  the study documents of particularly  the last year there was a more positive and constructive foundation than anything else to the negative.

<UNKNOWN>: We know Mr Raubenheimer that time is limited, there are many interesting matters which one could reflect, but another aspect before I conclude, could you say something about the State Security Council, the involvement of the SABC in this regard, its institutions etc?

LOUIS RAUBENHEIMER: Mr Chair  for a period of approximately one year, not quite a full year in my capacity as chief editor new strategy and environmental survey, I was requested on a two-weekly basis to attend a State Security Council sub-committee, the so-called Stratcom Committee. It is quite difficult to talk about this because the impression had already been created in the media that Stratcom would be behind many of the incredible deeds that were committed in the name of state security which served before this Commission and to which was testified in front of this Commission.    The Stratcom meetings which I experienced, and I don't know whether I was selectively allowed to some of these meetings because I received notices and invitations to the meetings which I attended, but the meetings  which I attended were nothing more and nothing less than information gathering efforts.  They were attended by representatives which appeared to me to come from the total spectrum of state government departments, not only the police, the defence force, military information, military intelligence.  There were also representatives from all other State departments.    These meetings took the form of presentations, whether graphic or otherwise, regarding conditions in the country, conditions in black schools, conditions in the field of the manufacturing industry, the labour sphere, and these  meetings were used to get feedback on information regarding what was happening in the country in total.  I experienced these meetings as nothing more than an effort to create a forum somewhere for the input of information.  As far as the State departmental representatives dealing with this information at a later stage  was concerned, I don't know, whether they launched follow-up actions based on these informations, information, I don't know, but should these actions have taken place were definitely not discussed where I as an observer acting on behalf of the SABC, I don't know about anything following from this.  There were no follow-up actions formulated there but it was simply an information-gathering meeting.  I take it that the intention was, and that was the background that was sketched to me when I was asked to attend the meetings, it was that in that timeframe limited information was available to the news media and that was probably the greatest problem if I had to focus on one specific problem during the whole period that I was involved in journalism and that is the fact that selective information, inadequate information was given through to the news media.  I saw this and I take it that my superiors who saw this, who wanted me to use this opportunity, regarded it as an opportunity gain more information about what was going on.

<UNKNOWN>: But were there other media involved except for the SABC?

LOUIS RAUBENHEIMER: No Mr Chair.

<UNKNOWN>: Then just to conclude, I am very sorry time is always a problem, but we don't live in an ideal world, apparently the situation within which the SABC operated was also not an ideal situation, what would you say was the main problem, or were the main problems experienced and how can one avoid this kind of situation in the future?  Just a brief statement to this effect please.