PERSPECTIVE

IN THE NEWS TONIGHT III

That's the way news go. News is derived from 'new', and it actually means 'many new things'. That there is a Lake Victoria is not news, that Mbeki is ANC president is not news, that the ANC is holding a policy conference is not news, that a minister will be buried is not news but that Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille has been arrested by police after the same cops failed to arrest Tony Yengeni and Jacob Zuma is news. One wonders why it escapes the SABC which finds newsworthiness in political gatherings that its viewers do not even watch when screened. That they are giving a house to a woman in Khayelitsha is not news, people get given houses everyday. You can't have Western Cape Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi, Dr Zikalala, Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour and the whole Morning Live team attending to cover that. It's just too damn embarassing.

That the ANC is going to a crucial conference in December and a new leader might emerge is big news, that's why a huge media contingent has already made sure that you won't get any hotel accommodation in the city in December. And that's what news are. Somebody please send this piece to Adv Mpofu and Zikalala.

PS. And that Minister of Health Mantombazana Shabala-Msimang has a criminal conviction is news and the SABC should treat it as such.

After the break.............WEATHER FORECAST