DA angered by new SABC channel

Johannesburg - Live SABC television coverage of a speech by President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday night smacked of electioneering, the Democratic Alliance said.

"In fact, the president's speech sounded much like an election speech," party spokesperson Mmusi Maimane said on Thursday.

"He used the opportunity to rattle off a list of supposed government achievements."

Maimane said he would insist on an explanation from SABC head of news Jimi Matthews.

Zuma was speaking at a Black Business Council dinner at Gallagher Estate in Midrand. He spoke of the country's achievements in the past 19 years.

"We state without fear of contradiction that South Africa is a much better place now than it was before 1994, thanks to the hard work of South Africans," he said.

Maimane described the live coverage as political abuse of the national broadcaster a few months before the 2014 general elections.

Attempts to get comment from the SABC were unsuccessful.