Hlaudi shown the door
Former SABC boss barred from addressing pupils He's not a good role model for our kids – DA
Former SABC chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng was barred from addressing pupils at a school in Ivory Park, Midrand, yesterday.
Motsoeneng was expected to give a motivational talk at Eqinisweni Secondary School to motivate pupils to focus on their studies.
The controversial Motsoeneng was found by the public protector to have lied about having a matric certificate when he applied for his job at the SABC.
Motsoeneng is currently at home after the Western Cape High ordered that he should not occupy any position at the the public broadcaster .
Organisers of the event said they were informed by an official from the district office at the 11th hour that he was not welcome at the school.
Motivational speaker Vuyo Sibiya, who draws public figures to the township to motivate pupils, said he was told to cancel the event which had been planned for months.
Sibiya said he chose Motsoeneng because young people “loved him” despite his lack of matric.
“I have observed him speaking to people and the youth love him. I kne w that young people in my community would also listen him and be motivated by him,” he said. Sibiya said the school was bedevilled by high levels of drug abuse, suicide and a high pregnancy rate.
The school principal refused to be interviewed yesterday, referring questions to the Gauteng department of education.
Sibiya said had been working with the school since 2011, organising motivational talks to help boost pupils’ morale.
Sibiya said Motsoeneng was stopped at the entrance and told not to enter the school premises.
“I was shocked when I was informed by an official from the district office that Motsoeneng would not be allowed to address pupils.
“I asked them to call him into the office and properly explain to him why he could not address the pupils but they refused. They said they did not want anything to do with him.”
Gauteng department of education spokesman Oupa Bodibe said proper channels to obtain permission for the visit were not followed.
Motsoeneng said the incident was political.
“I was invited and if you are invited and there are politics I do not want to be involved ... ” he said.
“The DA is using apartheid tactics. If I am not your role model I am a role model to someone else. If you are not happy then its your business.”
DA shadow minister of basic education Gavin Davis said in a statement on Tuesday that Motsoeneng was not a role model and that he should be barred from addressing pupils.
Davis wrote to the Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga to stop Motsoeneng from “politicking at schools”.
“One wonders what study tips Motsoeneng can offer when he himself failed to obtain a matric, and was found by the public protector to have lied when he claimed that he had a matric qualification.
“Motsoeneng is hardly a role model for any young person,” he said.
One wonders what study tips Motsoeneng can offer