Hlaudi takes aim at interim board

DISGRACED former SABC strongman Hlaudi Motsoeneng could have sealed his fate when he launched a scathing attack on the broadcaster’s interim board and Parliament’s ad hoc committee which looked into the corporate’s affairs.

In a no-holds-barred media briefing in Johannesburg yesterday, Motsoeneng tore into the interim board chaired by businesswoman Khanyisile Kweyama, saying it lacked integrity.

Motsoeneng also used the platform to endorse former AU Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to succeed President Jacob Zuma in December.

The parliamentary committee recommended that further investigations be instituted into the organisation’s finances after it emerged during the hearing that the previous board had failed to act to prevent irregular expenditure which amounted to R5 billion over the past few years.

Last night, Motsoeneng did not back down when asked if he was not digging his own grave with his comments on the board.

“In South Africa we have justice and fairness. I decide my future. I can rule South Africa, there’s not doubt about it. The SABC is not Alpha and Omega for me. I’m stress-free, I’m enjoying life.”

Earlier Motsoeneng called for the SABC board to be appointed by ordinary citizens and not Parliament and that it should be chaired by a retired judge.

“They are conflicted but I have never recommended for them to be disbanded. They should be vetted. I don’t care who serves on the board, but they should do the basics such as vetting.”

He said the ad hoc committee report’s recommendations would not affect him because he was never invited by the committee to make submissions in Parliament.

“The ad hoc committee caused havoc. I was never invited to Parliament.

“They said one man took all the decisions, that means I’m powerful, man!

“What’s wrong if I won the debates in our discussions as the board?” said Motsoeneng, who affirmed that he was still an SABC employee.

SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said they had watched Motsoeneng’s media briefing and had taken a decision that “we are not going to respond to any of the issues raised there. Mr Motsoeneng is still an employee of the SABC”.

He continued: “We will deal with him like we deal with all employees of the organisation. That’s the position of the organisation. We never talk to employees in the public space.”

Kganyago said the date for Motsoeneng’s disciplinary hearing would be set by the interim board once all stakeholders had been consulted.

DA spokesperson Phumzile van Damme said in a statement that the interim board must now terminate Motsoeneng’s employment and rid the SABC of the man responsible for the deep institutional rot.

“Hosting a press conference, as an SABC employee, without permission from the SABC board, or its management, constitutes a deliberate effort to undermine the SABC and to cause negative reporting of the various efforts to steer the SABC to calm waters.

“This cannot go unpunished,” Van Damme said.

Motsoeneng was suspended following a Western Cape High Court ruling that his appointment as chief operating officer was unlawful and unconstitutional. He does not have a matric but claimed he did.