Bid for criminal case following SABC ‘lies’

Committee must decide what to do with report regarding inquiry

LEGAL experts will be called to help plan what to do with those who had potentially lied during a parliamentary probe into the affairs of the SABC. Parliament’s portfolio committee on communications has been given the responsibility of what to do with a report compiled by Parliament’s Legal Services Unit identifying five people, including the Minister of Public Service and Administration, Faith Muthambi, as possibly misleading the probe. The DA wanted criminal charges to be lodged against Muthambi, former SABC board chairpersons Mbulaheni Maguvhe, Ellen Tshabalala and Ben Ngubane, as well as former company secretary Theresa Geldenhuys.

EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said this could be a risk, and so Parliament’s lawyers should advise them first.

“We have a lot of power, often more than police stations… in relation to our members and the people who appear in front of us… in our entities that (Powers and Privileges) Act is a very powerful act, so I would want the indulgence of our honourable members here, what is the legal advice to us and then take a decision,” he said.

DA MP Phumzile van Damme was not opposed to the idea of getting a legal opinion first, while ANC MP Nokuzola Tolashe said lawyers would be best placed to take MPs through the process.

The report from Parliament’s legal unit outlines how Muthambi, in her former portfolio as communications minister, may have misled the committee when she denied putting pressure on then board members to appoint her friend, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, as the SABC’s chief operating officer. If found to be true, it would be a breach of the Powers and Privileges Act.

Maguvhe was also found to have possibly lied when he told the inquiry in December last year he had no knowledge of the firing of the “SABC 8”, the group of journalists fired and then rehired after objecting to changing editorial policies at the broadcaster.

“Ms Muthambi, however, indicated that Prof Maguvhe himself had led a October 5, 2016 presentation to the portfolio committee which included feedback with regard to the labour dispute. This could be indicative of Prof Maguvhe misleading the Inquiry,” the report stated.

One of Maguvhe’s predecessors, Ngubane, who is also the former Eskom chairman, is also on the list in the report.

“The testimony offered by Dr Ngubane could be seen as an attempt to mislead the inquiry and that false information was presented to the inquiry.”

Ngubane testified that former acting chief executive Phil Molefe had pursued a contract with rival television station ANN7, a Gupta-owned company, although the contract was signed after Molefe had left the SABC.

The alleged failure of former company secretary Geldenhuys to table key documents to the ad hoc committee meant she also made it on to the list.

The lawyers also suggest a probe be done into former SABC chief financial officer James Aguma’s submission of an e-mail stating that a new memorandum of incorporation, which gave Muthambi more powers at the SABC, was in fact authentic.

The report stated that those who give false evidence before a committee could be liable to a fine or jail time not exceeding two years, or both. – ANA