Hlaudi lets loose again

LAUNCHES ATTACK: PARLY COMMITTEE, INTERIM BOARD UNDER FIRE Claims board members lied about him at SABC hearings.

Former SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng locked horns with government over the broadcasters’ interim board yesterday, castigating it in an explosive press conference.

Flanked by scores of supporters in a packed conference room at the Milpark Garden Court Hotel in Johannesburg, Motsoeneng launched into a tirade about the interim board and the parliamentary ad hoc committee on the SABC. Taking aim at the board’s Krish Naidoo, he claimed Naidoo was a liar who was unfit to sit on the board as he and members of the previous board, which was dissolved last year, had lied under oath to parliament.

Motsoeneng also tore into the ad hoc committee’s report criticising the former SABC board for allowing Motsoeneng to exert tyrannical influence over it.

“The ad hoc committee has caused a lot of chaos,” he charged. “It stated that the whole board was at fault and yet it saw fit to not move against [Naidoo], who was a member of the same board.”

Minister of Communications Ayanda Dlodlo hit back yesterday, saying there was nothing untoward about the appointment of the interim board. “The Broadcasting Act clearly made provision for the president to appoint the interim board within 10 days of receiving recommendations from the National Assembly,” she said. “As government, we would like to assure the public that the current interim board is a legally constituted board. “The board has been mandated to implement the SABC ad hoc committee’s recommendations and should be afforded the space to do its work. It is expected that the interim board should ensure proper functionality of the SA Broadcasting Cooperation so as to deliver on its public mandate as per the Broadcasting Act.”

Motsoeneng joined his supporters in defending his decision to implement a blanket policy to broadcast 90% local content for television and radio.

“I am not apologetic about the decisions we have been taking at the SABC,” he said, adding that he and his legal team were squaring up for his disciplinary hearing.

Motsoeneng was suspended in December after the Western Cape High Court ruled that his appointment was both unlawful and unconstitutional. The court also found that the SABC board failed to uphold the constitution and ignored findings in former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report, which found that Motsoeneng had lied about his qualifications and awarded himself irregular salary hikes. –

The ad hoc committee has caused a lot of chaos.