‘HLAUDI HAD HIS CHANCE TO TESTIFY’
SEVERAL political parties are adamant there is no need to call controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng to clear his name following damning allegations made against him before parliament’s committee investigating the SABC.
The committee, made up of several political parties, intends to submit its report to the National Assembly next month.
The committee closed testimony last week and started deliberations on the working document yesterday, however, United Democratic Movement MP Nqabayomzi Kwankwa requested that it reconsider the decision not to call Motsoeneng, in the interests of fairness.
However, all MPs on the committee argued that it needed to meet strict deadlines, and could not call more witnesses.
Many also said Motsoeneng had been given opportunities to express his side of the story but had not done so.
ANC MP Jabulani Mahlangu said the SABC had sent a delegation of executives to the committee when it first started and Motsoeneng had been part of that group.
He said chairman Vincent Smith had given this group the opportunity to ask questions, but they never did.
DA MP Phumzile van Damme said Motsoeneng’s position had been made very clear by the courts. “He came in here, and walked out and called a press conference insulting this committee and calling us a kangaroo court,” she said.
The EFF’s Fana Mokoena said it was not the committee’s job to clear anyone’s names and give them a platform.
“If we are expected to clear everyone’s names then we should also have to call the Guptas, Brian Molefe and others.”
The committee then started the detailed work of going through each clause of the working document. It will be rewritten and reworked before a finalised version is presented to the National Assembly for adoption.
The reworking included the correction of grammatical errors as well as providing further detail and clarifications such as setting out the legal framework in which the SABC operates, examples of how Communications Minister Faith Muthambi is said to have interfered and specific reasons SABC staffers like Sophie Mokoena and Vuyani Green did not want to testify.
The document was given to MPs earlier this week and after being made public, there were allegations that it was “leaked”.
Smith, however, said the document had never been embargoed, and the committee had since the beginning been open and transparent. “This notion of a leak does not exist and does not even arise,” he said.
He said the “final product should contribute to the stop in the decline of the SABC. It has never been about this committee pronouncing on the innocence or guilt of any individual.”
“This notion of a leak does not exist and does not even arise