Parties say the ANC is reneging on SABC

Last-minute climbdown, preventing MPs probing the public broadcaster

OPPOSITION parties have accused the ANC of getting cold feet at the 11th hour by refusing to finalise recommendations on the probe into the SABC.

The ad hoc committee on the SABC was yesterday supposed to finalise discussions on the recommendations into the draft report. But the ANC changed its position.

The DA, EFF, IFP and National Freedom Party accused the ANC of reneging on its earlier position to conclude the recommendations.

The ANC proposed to the committee that it must finalise the draft report without recommendations and deal with them at a later stage, but that proposal was rejected outright by opposition parties, who said the ruling party was now reneging on its position.

DA MP Phumzile van Damme said of the ANC: “Why are we getting cold feet now? I don’t support the position that we do half our work and suddenly we get cold feet. We cannot send the report without recommendations.”

She said this was standard practice with all the reports, even when the public protector sends out her draft report with recommendations.

The African Christian Democratic Party’s Steve Swart also said they would in the draft report emphasise that the recommendations are not final and may be subject to amendments.

The EFF’s Fana Mokoena warned that the entire process would be null and void if the draft report went out to affected parties without recommendations. “We stand to self-sabotage if we stop such a glorious process so far. At the last minute, to renege and hold back on recommendations… it’s the one thing that will sabotage this committee,” he said.

“Let us not sabotage this process on a trajectory we have taken so far.”

However, Makhosi Khoza of the ANC said they were not getting cold feet. She said the ANC would be decisive in the draft report and action that needed to be taken. “We cannot compare this ad hoc committee to the public protector. Our recommendations are recommendations to Parliament, and it will take a decision on those,” she said.

“Let us not compare apples with mountains, let us compare apples with apples,” said Khoza.

Another ANC MP, Hlomane Chauke, said there was still a lot of work that needed to be done and that the committee would need time to work on the recommendations and could not rush the process.

He said they needed to clean up the mess they had found at the SABC and that the ANC was committed to a clean and transparent process.

“No one is running away from dealing with the recommendations. The issue is, let us put flesh here, let us spend time on the recommendations so that when they go out, they bite,” said Chauke.

Communications Minister Faith Muthambi’s role in the SABC board matters has been questioned after the ad hoc committee said she had been interfering with the board.

The committee said her memorandum of incorporation and delegation of authority framework had a direct bearing on the alleged illegal appointments and flouting of procedures. It said Muthambi was directly interfering with the running of the SABC.

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Compare apples with apples, not with mountains