Hlaudi in court war to keep R11,5m

The SABC has alleged that it found out only during its auditing processes that Hlaudi Motsoeneng, was illegally paid a R11,5m bonus.

This emerged yesterday when lawyer Terry Motau, SC, representing the public broadcaster, argued that former chief operating officer Motsoeneng’s pension must not be paid out to him as he faced allegations of misconduct and wrongdoing.

Motau said Motsoeneng was not entitled to the money, which was signed off by former GCEO James Aguma and approved by an SABC committee.

The SABC is seeking an interim order in the South Gauteng High Court to stop its Pension Fund, a separate entity, from paying Motsoeneng his multimillion rand pension.

Motsoeneng is embroiled in another legal battle with the Special Investigating Unit, which is trying to recover more than R20m, including monies lost through unfair dismissals and appointments during his tenure.

Motsoeneng's lawyers asked the court to deem the new evidence brought by the SABC in admissible as it was a new case altogether.

The SABC had in its supplementary affidavit before the court cited former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s findings to illustrate alleged misconduct by Motsoeneng during his tenure.

However, the evidence was not used in the SABC's founding affidavit filed in court, Motsoeneng’s legal team argued.