Scopa hails SABC board decision to axe Aguma

The SIU is expecting the proclamation of their investigation

PARLIAMENT’S Standing Committee on Public Accounts says it’s pleased that the SABC’s interim board has suspended the acting chief executive, James Aguma. But it also wants action to be taken against other senior officials guilty of wrongdoing.

This was said by Scopa chairperson Themba Godi yesterday.

Two weeks ago, Scopa called for action to be taken against Aguma for alleged financial mismanagement and for failing to deal with irregular expenditure of R5.1 billion.

Godi called for the decision to suspend Aguma to be followed by other action against senior officials at the SABC, in the wake of the financial mess in which the corporation finds itself.

“The suspension of Aguma is the beginning of a process to hold senior managers accountable,” he said.

He said Scopa would invite both the SABC and the Special Investigating Unit to discuss the scope of the probe into irregularities at the SABC.

He said the meeting would have to happen soon. The SIU is expecting the proclamation on their investigation to be issued next month.

After that it will begin with the investigation at the SABC. The interim SABC board told Scopa two weeks ago that they have already met with the SIU and discussed some of the work to be looked into by the unit.

One of their investigations centre on a R25 million contract given to a firm to look into the issue of irregular expenditure and how to fix it.

Scopa believes the contract was awarded illegally and should therefore be scrapped. Godi said the suspension of Aguma was an indication by the board that it was serious about dealing with the problems facing the SABC.

The SABC is deep in the red. It needs about R3bn to get out of financial trouble. It was reported recently that the board had submitted a proposal for a R3bn bailout.

But Communications Minister Ayanda Dlodlo said no set figure had been arrived at. She said discussions had been held with Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba, who had proposed other measures to get the SABC out of trouble.

Dlodlo told Parliament that she had asked the interim SABC board to re-do its proposal to get out of financial trouble.

She would not reveal how much the SABC needed. The board also did not disclose the figures when it was in Parliament two weeks ago.

The suspension of Aguma comes as the hearing of former Chief Operations Officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng continues on Friday after he lost another legal battle at the Labour Court last week, to scrap the hearing.