The ANC Youth League in Durban will march on the offices of Multichoice in protest over what they called an “apartheid tactic” to pull the plug on former Gupta news channel Afro Worldview.

Multichoice pulled the channel down at midnight on Tuesday when their contract with Afro Worldview came to an end.

Afrotone Media Holdings chairperson Mzwanele Manyi‚ who took over the channel from the Gupta family‚ had earlier said Afro Worldview's association with the Gupta family had created an unshakeable perception that it was an integral part of “state capture”‚ earlier leading to the collapse of the Afro Voice newspaper previously know as The New Age. It published its last edition on June 29.

But the ANC’s eThekwini Youth League said that they would stand for what was right.

“We believe that a decision not to renew Afro Worldview’s contract results in its effective closure since there is no other platform to flight this channel.”

“This decision by DSTV to close a channel because it offers an alternative view point in terms of news coverage undermines the plurality of voices advocated for by the South African Constitution. To us‚ this decision is similar to the tactics that were once employed by the apartheid regime‚” the league said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Such a decision must not be allowed to go unchallenged and we intend to march to DSTV offices in the region to register our rejection of the decision.”

Spokesman Thulisa Ndlela said no date had yet been set for the march.