Axing was planned, says Hlaudi
FIRED SABC boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng has hinted at appealing his dismissal, suggesting that his axing was predetermined.
He said he was not formally notified of the termination of his contract and that he would decide on what steps to take once he had seen the letter explaining the decision.
“I don’t have that ruling. I don’t want to comment from the air. I want to read it (first). I will deal with the issue after getting the ruling,” he said yesterday, moments after SABC interim board chairperson Khanyisile Kweyama announced his sacking during a media briefing.
Kweyama said the disciplinary hearing, which concluded on Friday and was headed by advocate Nazeer Cassim, had found Motsoeneng guilty of misconduct and of bringing the SABC into disrepute.
Motsoeneng, the broadcaster’s former CEO, was charged after he hosted an unauthorised media briefing in April, at which he criticised the SABC interim board chairperson, Krish Naidoo, and the Parliamentary ad-hoc committee.
He also used the briefing to defend his controversial 90% local music content on radio, which led to the loss of millions of rand in ad revenue.
Kweyama said the action against Motsoeneng was to discourage other employees from defying the SABC.
“You act, so that when someone tries it in the future, they know that the end of it is dismissal. There will be no SABC staff going out and calling media briefings. The policy is clear that the chairperson is the spokesperson of the SABC and can delegate to the acting chief executive.”
Motsoeneng’s legal counsel, advocate Zola Majavu, said: “There’s nothing (to comment about). I haven’t received any judgment and letter of dismissal.”
He questioned why news of Motsoeneng’s dismissal came to light even before the official pronouncement by the SABC.
“Everyone has been tweeting about it. I really don’t know. Even when the DC (disciplinary hearing) started, they said they wanted to dismiss him summarily. If you go to any lawyer, if a person has been found guilty he has the right to present mitigation in sentencing.”
In addition to appealing the ruling, it has been reliably learnt that Motsoeneng was considering approaching the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and/or the Labour Court.
Labour law expert Michael Bagraim said although it was “rude” for the SABC to announce Motsoeneng’s dismissal without telling him first, the decision was not unlawful.
“Even though resignation has to be done in writing, dismissal doesn’t have to be in writing. They can tell him orally,” Bagraim said.
“I believe it is over. He can still go to the CCMA or possibly the Labour Court, but he has to have good reason. He has to show a procedural error or that he has done nothing wrong. From my point of view he will be wasting time and money.”
With Motsoeneng given the boot yesterday, some of his controversial policies, in particular his 90% local music content for radio stations, will also follow him out of the broadcaster’s Auckland Park offices.
Kweyama stopped short of saying the policy had been disastrous: “The 90-10 (policy) was a bit drastic and we are rethinking it. It has been a source of revenue loss, if activated across all platforms.
“There are certain channels that are quite high and have achieved 80%, so we can’t say to those channels regress. If they are making a profit we will leave it like that.”