SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng wonders whether privately-owned media has an agenda against the public broadcaster.

He did not believe the SABC was censoring content and it reported the news as it was, he told journalists at its Auckland Park head office on Tuesday.

He was happy people in the SABC were feeling the heat and said transformation was non-negotiable.

Print media had more problems than the SABC, he said. At the same time he denied that there were any problems at the broadcaster.

Motsoeneng has been criticised for his decision last month to no longer air footage of the destruction of property during protests. Three SABC journalists were suspended last week for raising questions about a decision not to cover the Right2Know campaign’s protest outside their offices.

Motsoeneng said journalists in print media should follow the SABC’s lead, and that the SABC should not follow print media.

“People of South Africa support the SABC, so sit in your corner and do what you do and we will do what we do,” he said.

Acting group CEO Jimi Matthews resigned from the broadcaster on Monday. He said the SABC’s “corrosive atmosphere” had negatively affected his moral judgement, and made him complicit in decisions he was not proud of.