DJ Sbu gets off and back on air, with the help of the ANC
YFM suspends popular DJ for sharing stage with ZumaPOPULAR radio jock DJ Sbu has been kicked off his breakfast show for appearing on stage with ANC president Jacob Zuma at the massive Siyanqoba election rally on Sunday.
Sbu, whose real name is S’busiso Leope, was spotted on SABC and the e.news channel dancing and posing for photographs with Zuma at the rally in Johannesburg. After the formal proceedings, Leope introduced the singers and dancers who entertained the crowd. But the spotlight on him was switched off yesterday morning when the managers of YFM placed him “on leave” for endorsing the ANC.
By yesterday afternoon, the DJ had gone to ground and was not answering his phone.
But his business partner at record label TS Records, Thembinkosi Nciza, said YFM called a meeting with the DJ yesterday and told him that he would be “placed on leave until after the elections” tomorrow.“But their reasoning did not make sense to me at all,” Nciza said.
This is not the first time Leope has been suspended from the station.In February, he was kicked off the air for a month for playing a song that was not on the station’s play list.
He courted controversy during his suspension when he is said to have crashed the hired car of his girlfriend, actress Terry Pheto, into a van transporting security guards in Sandton. He reportedly fled the scene on foot, abandoning the Volkswagen Polo he was driving.But Leope is not the only YFM DJ to support the ruling party publicly.
In an ANC newspaper advertising insert published on Sunday titled “Mzanzi stars say together we can do more”, his colleagues Bonang Matheba, who presents YFM’s hip-hop show, and DJ Oskido, who presents the house music show on Friday nights, also came out batting for Zuma. In her endorsement, Matheba wrote: “… vote for the party that we know … vote ANC”.In his endorsement, DJ Oskido said: “Zabalaza Wena!!!! Vote ANC!”In the same pamphlet, Leope said: “Me, as Sbu Leope, I am definitely voting for the ANC … so my people, let’s all go and vote for the ANC on April 22.”
Nciza said it was “very unfair” that Leope was the only DJ that YFM had suspended, though Matheba and DJ Oskido had also supported the ruling party “in full view of the public”.
“This must be a personal thing because Sbu did not use their airtime to advertise the ANC and because they also don’t want him to show support as an individual because he represents the station,” Nciza said.
YFM station manager Kanthan Pillay told The Times he was not aware of Leope’s suspension and could not comment.
Then there was him being returned:
THE ANC Youth League ensured that YFM DJ Sbu Leope was back in his booth this morning, after he was booted off the station for backing the ruling party.
Leope was placed on leave on Monday after being spotted on the stage at the ANC’s Siyanqoba rally in Johannesburg on Sunday, dancing and posing for pictures with party president Jacob Zuma.
ANCYL president Julius Malema said yesterday that his party did “not agree with what the station did”.
“They can’t do that to someone just because he showed support to a particular party. We held a meeting with station management yesterday and Sbu will be back at work tomorrow [today],” Malema said.
Leope’s fellow YFM DJs Bonang Matheba and Oskido also supported the ANC in a campaign pamphlet published on Sunday, but they were not suspended.
In a statement, YFM’s programme manager, Tumelo Diaho-Monaheng, said the station was “distressed at suggestions that it would deny any South African the right to freedom of association”.
“DJ Sbu and all employees of YFM have the constitutional right to be associated with and to vote for the party of their choice,” he said.
“YFM itself is bound by its licence conditions and by the Broadcasting Code of Conduct to ensure that it remains impartial at all times .”
However, after the meeting with the youth league, the station reinstated Leope.
Okay so what happened to Freedom of Speech and Expression at YFM. I say they were rather petty and acted so childish, when theyshould have suspended all three DJs they chose Sbu?
What should we say its a conspiracy theory or was that their little publicity stunt? What are boring way of seeking attention then I say.
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