Parliamentarians adopt SABC report

MEMBERS of parliament from all parties except the UDM have supported the final ad hoc committee report into the SABC board, which has called for the removal of Communications Minister Faith Muthambi.

Parliament yesterday adopted the report during a sitting of the National Assembly.

Ad hoc committee chairman Vincent Smith started by thanking all members of the committee for their hard work.

“We knew this task would feel like a marathon. It is our humble view that the ad hoc committee contributed in a small way to restoring the credibility and respect of this august house,” said Smith.

He said the SABC board was “dys- functional and inquorate” at the time the ad hoc committee commenced its work. The entire board has since resigned and will be replaced by a fivemember interim board.

Smith said the board “from the very beginning of the inquiry displayed behaviour in total disregard” to the constitution.

The DA’s Mike Waters said both Muthambi and former COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng “believed that the SABC was their own fiefdom to do with as they pleased to further a broader political agenda”.

“The report recommends that, given the minister’s violations, parliament must refer any violations of the Constitution, Privileges Act, the Executive Code of Ethics and/or the Broadcasting Act to the Ethics Committee and/or the Presidency for processing.

“Unfortunately, the DA no longer has faith in Minister Muthambi and she must be fired,” said Waters.

The EFF’s Fana Mokoena said the problems of the SABC were symptomatic of a “fascist and apartheid state” that believed in the control of national communications for propaganda purposes.

“Fundamentally at the heart of the problems at the SABC is that it is being used to undermine democracy and fight internal battles of the ANC. This is what we heard in the evidence given to the ad hoc committee,” said Mokoena.

He said President Jacob Zuma “must fire Minister Muthambi who is incompetent”.

IFP chief whip Narend Singh said the SABC was like a “cautionary tale”.

“It finds itself today in an almost crippling state in which there is no silver bullet or universal panacea that can be applied,” said Singh.

The UDM’s Nqabayomzi Kwankwa felt Motsoeneng should have been given an opportunity to appear before the committee and his request “fell on deaf ears”. He said everything centred around Motsoeneng during the leading of evidence.

“For these reasons the UDM does not support this report,” said Kwankwa.

The office of the ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu welcomed the National Assembly’s adoption of the report.

“This brings to finalisation an elaborate and transparent process led by the ad hoc committee,” said Mthembu. — TMG