Parliament summonses SABC board chairman

PARLIAMENT’S inquiry into the SABC has issued a summons ordering the public broadcaster’s chairman, Mbulaheni Maguvhe, to appear before it.

He will have to account for the apparent collapse of good governance at the corporation. Maguvhe walked out of the inquiry earlier this week and was scheduled to appear yesterday but did not show up without any official notice to the committee explaining his absence.

The unanimous decision to issue the summons was welcomed by the DA. Spokeswoman Phumzile Van Damme said Maguvhe’s wanton disregard for parliament could not be allowed to stand.

“In terms of section 17 of the Privileges and Immunities Act‚ any person who has been duly summonsed to a committee of parliament and without sufficient cause fails to attend‚ commits an offence and is liable to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 12 months or to both the fine and the imprisonment.

“Maguvhe has tried everything to halt the proceedings of the committee. On December 2 his application for an interdict to stop proceedings of the ad hoc committee failed‚ with costs against him. Yesterday‚ he tried to halt proceedings by stating that he had applied for leave to appeal against the judgment against him‚” Van Damme said.

She added that the work of the committee must be allowed to continue and that those called to testify must do so in the interest of restoring the integrity and stability of the national broadcaster.

Earlier, the committee heard testimony that Communications Minister Faith Muthambi interfered with the SABC board and the appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as chief operations officer (COO).

Muthambi apparently surprised some board members by arriving unannounced at board meetings late at night.

Late-night meetings and a high frequency of secret meetings were the order of the day, according to former board members and a former chief executive, who gave evidence to the inquiry yesterday.

Muthambi is said to have arrived at the SABC’s Auckland Park offices at 11pm one night while board members were discussing Motsoeneng’s appointment as COO. This was after the release of the public protector’s report on the SABC.

First up to give evidence was former board member Ronnie Lubisi, who also sat on the SABC’s audit committee.

“Among the matters that the minister raised with members of the board was that then acting chief operations officer Mr Hlaudi Motsoeneng had been acting for too long and she suggested that we need to appoint him permanently.

“At that stage we were dealing with the public protector’s report, which had made some unfavourable findings against Motsoeneng,” said Lubisi in his submission to the committee.