HLAUDI’S MORNING (LIVE) GLORY
Singing his praises cuts into bulletin
PARLIAMENT may have roasted Hlaudi Motsoeneng, but viewers of SABC Morning Live were reminded of his largesse when they had to endure a praise song for the former COO that cut seven minutes into the news bulletin.
According to SABC staffers, no one wanted to pull the plug on the song on Tuesday morning sung by an obscure Lesotho music group because they feared being fired.
“Leave him alone,” the song went,
“Hlaudi wants African music to grow
“We thank God for Hlaudi Motsoeneng “May God protect him for us “We love him.” The band called the Lesotho Allstars praised Motsoeneng for introducing a policy of playing 90 percent local music on the state broadcaster.
SABC staffers, fearing they might lose their jobs if they complained, approached social activist Yusuf Abramjee. “They said the instruction came from up top, they couldn’t cut to the news. It is a total disgrace,” Abramjee said. In a lead-up to the song, presenters and the band discussed the meaning of the lyrics for 10 minutes before the performance. The group’s CD had a picture of Motsoeneng on the cover.
“Staff members told me there had never been a runover like this into the news bulletin. In broadcasting it is a big no no,” said Abramjee.
Irate viewers took to Twitter. One said he thought that it had to be an April Fool’s joke.
The DA spokeswoman on communications, Phumzile van Damme, said she would be asking questions in Parliament. “This is not the first time he has done this. First there was Mzwakhe Mbuli, now this. This seems to be a clear intention by Hlaudi to get public support. And he is likely to have paid for them too,” she said.
Spokesman for the SABC Kaizer Kganyago said the incident was “neither here nor there”.
“Are we saying people can’t write songs,” he said. Programmes often run over into the news bulletin, he said. The musicians were not paid to perform.
Motsoeneng was slammed in Parliament yesterday.
Former SABC board member Krish Naidoo told Parliament Motsoeneng was “squatting” at the broadcaster.
Naidoo was before Parliament’s ad hoc committee that was looking into the fitness of the SABC board.
The ad hoc committee also heard that Motsoeneng was “airlifted and parachuted” to headquarters where his career rapidly advanced because he enjoyed political protection from a powerful source.
Former acting group chief executive of ficer Phillip Molefe, who held the position from July, 2011, to January, 2012, said that during his time at the helm of the broadcaster, he witnessed Motsoeneng’s rapid ascension to power and when he (Molefe) did not tow the line he soon lost his job.
Motsoeneng was appointed to three senior positions in just one year at the expense of other senior employees who were either overlooked or removed to make way for him.
Molefe said Motsoeneng went to the SABC headquarters in 2010 from the Free State where he had held a junior position as producer at Lesedi FM and became general manager in the office of the then chief executive Solly Mokoetle.
Molefe said this position was created solely for Motsoeneng.
The following year, Motsoeneng was made group executive officer for Stakeholder Relations, a position that was held by Higher Education Minister Minister Blade Nzimande’s wife, Phumelele Ntombela-Nzimande.
“She was removed to make way for Hlaudi. She was a very competent member of the staff in the organisation who was removed without justification.
“She held a post-graduate position. I can’t speak for Mr Motsoeneng but she was qualified for that position.
“He (Motsoeneng) was brought to Johannesburg, literally airlifted and parachuted from the Free State to GM in the CEO’s office.”
Months later, Motsoeneng in two days was appointed by the board’s then chairman Dr Ben Ngubane as acting group chief executive officer in Molefe’s absence and the next day acting chief operations officer, a position he held until 2014 when he was appointed permanently to the post.
Molefe told the inquiry that just days after Motsoeneng had been appointed as acting COO, he came to his office asking for a R500 000 increment.
“In late November he came to me asking for a salary increment. I refused and said increments were subject to board approval,” he said.
“In December I was called to Dr Ngubane’s office where I found Mr Motsoeneng. Dr Ngubane handed me a letter recommending a salary increase for Mr Motsoeneng.
“I refused to sign the letter and said that under no (circumstances) would I sign it.
“Then Mr Motsoeneng stood up and said ‘Chair I told (you), this is not our man, so I am going to Pretoria tonight’.
“The increment was irregular; that is why I did not agree to it. My understanding of him going to Pretoria was going to a higher authority.
Molefe added that Motsoeneng met with one of the Gupta brothers in July, 2011.
“Mr Tony Gupta wanted to sign a memorandum of co-operation between the SABC and TNA Media to have live broadcasts on its morning breakfast show, Morning Live.”
Asked by the DA’s Van Damme if President Jacob Zuma’s name had ever been used in order to favour Motsoeneng, Molefe said yes.
“In the public it had emerged that he was a favoured by the president,” he said.