ANC caucus warns SABC board to void Motsoeneng decision or face the heat
CAPE TOWN — The ANC parliamentary caucus gave the SABC on Wednesday a week to rescind its decision to redeploy former boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng to another managerial position at the public broadcaster.
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu told reporters in Parliament that the SABC board would meet with the portfolio committee on communications to discuss rescinding Motsoeneng’s redeployment.
If the meeting produced no consensus, a parliamentary inquiry would ensue. This could lead to a move to have the SABC board dissolved, Mthembu said.
“When the ANC goes to the portfolio committee meeting, they will go informed by what we are saying now. If they meet in minds and decide on the next process, let them. All I know is that board is not fit to govern.
“Clause 15 [of the Broadcasting Act] is clear on who can recommend dissolution to the House and that is the committee of Parliament. But they can only recommend the dissolution after due process. That due process is an inquiry,” Mthembu said.
He told reporters that despite speculation that Motsoeneng had the favour of powerful politicians in the governing ANC, allowing him to stay on, the party had not deployed him to the public broadcaster.
“The ANC has not deployed Hlaudi. Be that as it may, there are many people that the ANC has not deployed that would do a wonderful job. I can’t say the same about him. Many more would do a great job irrespective of whether they were deployed by the ANC,” said Mthembu.
Among other things the caucus wanted to know was whether due process had been followed when the vacant position was filled by Motsoeneng. These processes included advertising the job, interviewing candidates and verifying qualifications.
SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said the board had not yet seen the request from the ANC parliamentary caucus, but if Parliament wished to discuss anything with the SABC, the public service broadcaster would not be hard to find.
He maintained that the SABC believed it had taken the correct steps in its handling of Motsoeneng’s appointment.
DA MP on the communications committee, Phumzile van Damme, said it was good news that the ANC was taking the action that she had pushed for, although it was a pity that this had happened only after the Constitutional Court had ruled on Parliament’s failure to conduct an inquiry.
Political analyst and former parastatal board member Somadoda Fikeni said the call by the ANC caucus made the party appear divided. It had become easy to predict how each of the party’s structures would react to the development.
They can only recommend the board’s dissolution after due process