Somizi Puts eNCA On Blast

Somizi Mhlongo-Motaung has taken to his social media account to slam South Africa’s independent news channel eNCA.

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The 24-hour television news broadcaster has come under fire. This comes after a clip of its political reporter, Lindsay Dentlinger, getting reactions from politicians outside the parliament during a post-budget speech interview that went viral on social media, and it left many people foaming at the mouth.

Lindsay instructed a black politician to wear a mask whilst addressing the public and a white politician was allowed to address the public without wearing a mask. The public has accused the channel of racism and unconscious bias and many are boycotting it on social media.

Somizi who never shies away from speaking his mind added his two cents on the debate and has cancelled the channel with immediate effect. The reality television star said that he strongly condemns racism and expressed how angry he was. Sharing his strong comment, Somgaga shared the clip which has caused an uproar on social media and slammed the channel for not perceiving anything wrong in what the journalist did, “@encanews still doesn’t see anything wrong with this….nothing…..they even issued a statement saying there’s nothing racist about this……..wow…….and u still gonna tune in as a black person? Andizi ftsek to racists…….let me go get a drink coz, wow I’m fuming right now,” he captioned the post.

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A post shared by Somizi (@somizi)

Celebs reacted to his post.

Lerato Kganyago commented, “AND… yes it is racist because when you single black people out and the connotations are negative what else would it be????!!! Mxm.”

Gail_Mabalane wrote “Beyond ridiculous. A sad reality!”

The channel has since issued a statement and said the journalist’s “conduct was not racially motivated or with malicious intent,”. eNCA said Dentlinger failed to take instructions from the producer to request the interviewee to follow the COVID-19 protocols by wearing a mask and debunked reports that it’s racist.

“In an intense live broadcast environment like the Budget Speech coverage, our journalists are under pressure to remain compliant while delivering fair, accurate, and balanced news. The journalist had to contend with being live on air and taking producer instructions via her earpiece and unfortunately failed to request that the interviewee wear a mask,” said eNCA’s Managing Editor John Bailey.

The channel said comments currently circulating with regards to the video are maliciously misleading.

“Criticism to this extent leveled at a journalist under these circumstances is unfair and unfortunate. Comments and some video content that are currently being shared is maliciously misleading.”

Image Cred: Instagram