The ongoing “shenanigans” at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), which include the broadcaster defying another court order regarding the ever controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng, has forced the ANC caucus in Parliament to recommend a formal inquiry into the fitness of the state-owned broadcaster’s board to hold office, the ruling party chief whip said on Wednesday.
Briefing journalists in Parliament on the SABC’s decision to appoint Motsoeneng as group executive for corporate affairs after the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled his appointment as chief operating officer was unlawful and invalid, African National Congress chief whip Jackson Mthembu said this pointed to a management that had no respect for the rule of law.
“The appointment of the corporation’s former COO, whose previous appointment was also set aside by the courts, to another senior executive position, is without a doubt the last straw that breaks the camel’s back,” said Mthembu.
“The decision to reappoint the former COO is in complete violation of the judgments of both the High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal, and it points to a management that has no respect for the rule of law.”
Mthembu said the board’s decision was “unlawful” and it needed to meet immediately to “rescind it”.
In August, the Parliament’s portfolio committee on communications decided against an inquiry after various ANC MPs argued against the move.
Asked why there was now an about-turn, Mthembu said the latest developments at the broadcaster which saw its board defying the country’s courts was indeed the final straw, adding that the board will have a lot of explaining to do when it appeared before the portfolio committee next week.
“Before we have even spoken to them next week, they mess up again, appoint a non-employee to a position without due process again in defiance of court decision, in total defiance of our rule of law.”
Mthembu said an inquiry would determine whether Parliament should recommend to President Jacob Zuma that he dissolve the board.
The SABC board has been rocked by resignations and had been dissolved several times in the past few years following displeasure by MPs on the way the broadcaster had been run.
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