Hlaudi in cuckoo land

Former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng lambasts broadcaster’s interim board and in an orgy of self-adulation, says he could even be president.

Former SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng yesterday pledged his support for presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, adding that he could win the presidency if he decided to run.

Motsoeneng, who is on suspension from the SABC, was addressing a marathon media briefing at which actors and musicians declared their support for him. The group referred to him as “the people’s COO”.

He said: “I am loved by many people. I can mobilise over 20 million people. The majority of people, wherever I go, say I should be leading somewhere. To those who want me to be president, I say it is not a secret that I support a woman [for presidency].

“I won’t stand for presidency for now. I am concentrating on the SABC and all those who need my help.”

He said he was still employed by the public broadcaster and that he enjoyed “going in and out of the SABC”.

“Right now, I am enjoying my life, I have more time with my family … I take my children to school and am also invited to speak to people from various provinces.

“I am not apologetic about what happened at the SABC … when I was there, there was money at the SABC.”

He said he was looking forward to his disciplinary hearing and would not take the public protector’s report on him on review.

“The remedial actions in the public protector’s report have nothing to do with me, but the SABC, it is an SABC matter … I am going to tackle the hearing.”

Turning to the SABC 8, a group of journalists who complained about editorial interference at the broadcaster, Motsoeneng said they “have not won the war”.

The journalists sought direct access to have the court declare the SABC’s policy not to broadcast footage of violent protest action as unconstitutional and invalid.

“I am happy that the Constitutional Court dismissed their application. I told the political team in a meeting that we needed to balance news … you cannot compare President Jacob Zuma to other leaders.

“I said separate him, he is the leader and needs to be given more airtime to explain his decisions to the country,” Motsoeneng said.

“[Then acting political editor] Sophie Mokoena even invited [interim board member] Mathatha Tsedu to speak to them. I urged them to ask questions in that workshop. They did, I responded … and they clapped.”

He added that members of parliament were no longer representing citizens any more, only themselves and their organisations. “They need to be reduced so the money paid to them can be invested in ordinary people’s lives. We need to change the constitution … we should not be creating jobs for politicians.” – ANA