HIaudi fights suspension on all fronts

SABC TO APPEAL RULING

EMBATTLED SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng has been suspended‚ and the public broadcaster has been ordered to institute disciplinary action against him.

The Cape Town High Court made the ruling yesterday. Motsoeneng had lodged an application for leave to appeal an earlier judgment that ordered his suspension.

Last year the DA launched legal action in the high court to compel the SABC to implement public protector Thuli Madonsela ’ s recommendations for action to be taken against Motsoeneng.

In February last year Madonsela found Motsoeneng had abused his power and increased his salary from R1.5-million to R2.4-million within one year as acting chief operating officer.

Her other damning findings included that Motsoe- neng lied about his matric qualification and irregularly pushed up salaries, bloating the SABC ’ s salary bill.

The court ruled in favour of the DA in October. However ‚ Motsoeneng ‚ the SABC ‚ and Communications Minister Faith Muthambi brought an application for leave to appeal the judgment.

Today Judge Ashton Schippers granted the leave to appeal ‚ but ruled that Motsoeneng should be suspended pending the appeal which might take a long time.

“… a suspension of the order will mean that Mr Motsoeneng will remain in the position of COO …‚” said Schippers.

“And the disregard of the public protector ’ s findings and remedial action by the SABC and the minister will remain unremedied. In my view ‚ this state of affairs also constitutes irreparable harm to the public interest.

“By contrast ‚ Mr Motsoeneng will not suffer irreparable prejudice. … he will suffer no loss of remuneration and the suspension is of a limited period. And he may be found not guilty on the allegations of misconduct that have been hanging over him for years. Such a result could only serve the interests of Mr Motsoeneng ‚ as well as those of the SABC.”

But immediately after the ruling Motsoeneng ’ s lawyer ‚ Zola Majavu ‚ said he would appeal and Motsoeneng will be back at work. The SABC said it “will lodge an immediate appeal …”.

“Motsoeneng will not suffer

prejudice