Knives out for Hlaudi cronies
Bosses told their ‘time of repression is over’
NOW that chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng is gone from the SABC, the knives are out for those seen as his henchmen.
The Sunday Times can reveal that senior journalists and editors tabled a motion of no confidence in top news managers at a colloquium convened by the interim board in Auckland Park on Thursday.
Board deputy chairman Mathatha Tsedu confirmed that the meeting, attended by more than 100 staff, took place.
The motion has been interpreted as the beginning of the clean-up process following Motsoeneng’s dismissal for misconduct this week.
The motion of no confidence listed no names, but insiders who attended the colloquium said it was aimed at head of TV news Nothando Maseko, her radio counterpart, Sebolelo Ditlhakanyane, and national TV news editor Nyana Molete.
The Sunday Times last year revealed how Maseko and Ditlhakanyane were identified as the main enforcers of Motsoeneng’s interference in the coverage of news.
Staff told the board that the top news management had forced staff to interview Motsoeneng’s lawyer after he was fired.
There were also revelations of how Morning Live was ordered to interview the “Friends of Hlaudi” group.
“They [the news managers] sat there stony-faced and shocked at what has happening at the colloquium, they said nothing and did not defend themselves,” said a staff member who attended.
The source said the interim board had instructed Tsedu, who chairs its subcommittee on news, to look into the concerns raised by staff members.
Tsedu is said to have told the meeting that “the time of fear and repression is over. Do your work”.
Tsedu told the Sunday Times the meeting had been called by the interim board.
“It was an internal exercise that every company does. It’s not a secret that the SABC is in trouble at various fronts, money-wise, morale, the manner in which news has been handled over the past few years.
“If you have a strategy session with your leadership of news from across the country, you say to them you want to understand how we can rebuild the news division and bring back the stature of the news that the SABC brings out,” he said.
“In the discussion that happened [on Thursday] people were encouraged to be themselves and to speak honestly and freely so that we can understand how we can start rebuilding the SABC news division and the product that they put out. People spoke quite freely.”
Tsedu said it would be naive to believe Motsoeneng no longer had influence at the SABC.
“Hlaudi ran the SABC for quite a number of years. He didn’t do it alone. He is the only person who at the moment has been taken out.
“For anybody to imagine that the rest of the machinery that helped him to do what he used to do would just disappear overnight would be stupid,” said Tsedu.
Maseko said it would be unfair to single her out because her name was not mentioned during the meeting. “I will be surprised if you pick me, out of every leader,” she said.
Ditlhakanyane also sought to distance herself from the noconfidence motion.
“They said ‘news management’, they did not say Sebolelo . . . Please talk to Kaizer [SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago] and stop asking me stupid questions,” she said.
Kganyago referred queries to Tsedu.
One SABC official who asked not be named said: “People are now just being personal. I mean, this is not a political party, here people are employed to positions, not elected. When you table a motion like this, what should happen? Do you just get rid of people because others don’t like them?”
Molete declined to comment.