Parliament holds fire on Hlaudi
SABC divided over COO
PARLIAMENT has refused for now to enter the fray in the SABC board tussle over a proposal to take back Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
The board appeared to be divided after one board member, Krish Naidoo, publicly came out against attempts by his fellow board members to reinstate Motsoeneng as the acting chief operating officer.
Chairman of the portfolio committee on communications, Humphrey Maxegwana, yesterday refused to be drawn on the SABC board differences.
He said the committee would not intervene at this stage, but would wait for the board to come to Parliament in October. This will be a scheduled meeting of the committee and the SABC board.
In the last confrontation between the SABC and the public over censorship policies, the committee also refused to intervene. It waited for the scheduled meeting that took place in August, where the matters were discussed.
The stance taken by the committee reflected the line it has decided to adopt when it comes to the SABC, not to call the board in an urgent meeting.
Maxegwana, an ANC MP, said they would not call the board at this stage to discuss Motsoeneng’s situation, but would wait for the scheduled meeting in October.
“We will get a proper briefing when the board comes in October. The board is the people who are dealing with the people at the SABC,” he said.
SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago could not be reached for comment.
But Naidoo said he would not endorse a decision that Motsoeneng be re-appointed.
He said Motsoeneng had ceased to be an employee of the SABC, and was trespassing by continuing to come to work.
He said he did not know in what capacity Motsoeneng was still at the SABC.
Naidoo said it would be unethical and unlawful if he endorsed a decision that was in contempt of a court decision.
This was in reference to the Supreme Court of Appeal decision on Monday that effectively declared Motsoeneng’s appointment irrational and that it be set aside.
The former chief operating officer has demanded one of the senior positions at the SABC, if he was not returned as COO. But the board was trying to get him back as acting COO until the end of the year.
Naidoo said this was illegal, and as a board member he would not accept it.
Maxegwana said all interested parties would have to wait for next month, when the committee met the SABC board in the National Assembly.