South Africa's national broadcaster SABC has forbidden any negative coverage of President Jacob Zuma, prompting journalists there to threaten a news blackout. 

SABC has justified the censorship by saying that Zuma "deserves a certain degree of respect as president of the country," according to Afrikaans newspaper Rapport.

Tough times for South Africa's national broadcaster.

The newspaper also claimed that SABC camera crew were being retrained because they were making Zuma "look shorter" than he was. 

Zuma survived a bid to impeach him earlier this month - the latest Houdini act of his in a political career that has comfortably survived a trial for rape, claims of nepotism, a dodgy weapons deal and much-ridiculed claims that he "showered to avoid HIV".

As journalists have hounded Zuma, the government has sought to bring South Africa's traditionally free press increasingly to heel. SABC, the national broadcaster that is aired in every South African's home, has grown particularly restrictive over the past years, capturing headlines for all the wrong reasons. 

SABC chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng has openly said that the broadcaster will no longer air images of violent protests, arguing that such footage encouraged further violence. 

The national broadcaster, he has said, should ensure 70 per cent of its stories are "positive stories", with "negative" news making up the remaining 30 per cent. 

Motsoeneng - who has been quoted as saying "I don't believe in scientific research" - has also raised eyebrows for calling on parliament to regulate the media. 

His controversial statements and policies have prompted a raft of resignations at SABC, including that of its CEO Jimi Matthews. In his resignation letter, Matthews wrote that "what is happening at the SABC is wrong and I can no longer be a part of it." 

Other senior managers and journalists are also said to be on the verge of leaving, and many SABC staff members changed their Facebook profile pictures in protest at the suspension of three journalists.

SABC staff members took to Facebook to protest the suspension of three colleagues. Photo: news24.com

Motsoeneng is reported to have taken a tough stance against staff complaints, allegedly telling SABC workers “if the leadership says you must turn right, you must turn right. If you turn left, you must get off the bus." 

Freedom House has rated South Africa's press as "partly free", noting that Zuma and his party, the African National Congress originally founded by Nelson Mandela, had stepped up their use of apartheid-era laws to muzzle the press in 2014.