After frantically failing to attract much needed numbers to stage a march to deliver a memorandum of grievances against the dismissal former Ligwalagwala FM radio presenter, Khaya Angel recently, the organizers have been hampered by authoritative bureaucracy in the province.

Efforts to hold the march yesterday, Friday 14 June were allegedly thwarted with failure to grant permission for the march to go ahead to the SABC’s Alroe Park in Mbombela.
According to “the Supporters of Khaya Angel” led by Joseph Mashaba, they are taking the fight to the SABC Headquarters in Auckland Park, Johannesburg soon.
In a statement by the concerned group yesterday, it stated: “We are displeased in informing all supporters of Khaya Angel and the peaceful march, that had been scheduled for 14 June to the SABC offices, Ligwalagwala FM, that the planned march will no longer continue as planned.

This comes after lengthy meetings with local authorities and SABC officials failed to yield progressive outcomes. It has become clear to us that there are certain individuals behind closed doors, with better connections, who would do anything to frustrate the process.
“Local authorities couldn’t warrant us the legal right to take to the streets and deliver a memorandum of our grievance, sighting that these individuals would not welcome a memorandum speaking against gender inequality. As organizers, we have tried our level best to clarify the motive of the march.
“Nonetheless, our efforts were in vain, as we were left with no legal approval for the march.
“We therefore refuse to speculate what strides were made at blind sight by these individuals to counter our efforts to voice out our dissatisfaction on the unfair dismissal of Khaya Angel from the public broadcaster.”

” This has only left us to wonder who the public broadcaster is really serving. This stumbling block has only inspired us to stretch our efforts even further in search of a radio that listens to the people and weighs concerns and complaints without shutting others out.

“We have therefore decided to take the #BringKhayaAngelBack march all the way to Auckland Park, Johannesburg at the National SABC offices. This is purely because we realize that this battle ground is dominated by those with power and better connections, so we shall move to higher ground in search for ears to meet our cry.

“We therefore urge all supporters not to allow this to weaken their enthusiasm to stand for what is right. Free transport to Johannesburg and food on the day will be provided for all those who will be part of this movement to fight individualistic “supremecy” in public institutions. We will also negotiate for accommodation if need be, which would also be at no cost to those attending the march.

“An official date for the march to Auckland Park will be communicated in due course, as soon as we have secured authorisation from the Johannesburg Metro, which we are currently in the process of applying for.

“We have also taken our efforts a notch further by lodging a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission, as we clearly stated in previous statements, that we view the dismissal as a downplay on gender equality in the work place.

The SAHRC provincial office has responded to us acknowledging having received our complaint and currently looking into the matter.

“We also plan to further engage Media Law practitioners on the matter to establish legal grounds. All our efforts are directed not only at the call to reinstate Khaya Angel, but also at promoting gender equality in the work place and to remind public institutions who it is they are serving.

“We continue to acknowledge the support received from different locations and the individuals who had mobilized to join the march.”

“There’s certainly no smoke without a fire, and we are adamant we will eventually get to the fire place despite all the forces trying to push us back to our social media corners.”

“We therefore urge all supporters to hold on to their zeal, and that we travel to Johannesburg to deliver our memorandum directly at the SABC national offices.”

“We also urge all supporters of this course to boycott the public radio until our grievance is met with “people serving ears”.We say #NoMoreLigwala #BringKhayaAngelBack #NoToGenderInequality,” ended the statement.

A public statement on the trip to Johannesburg will be communicated as soon as all arrangements have been finalized.