SABC horrors laid bare
FORMER BOARD MEMBERS TALK
MINISTER of Communications Faith Muthambi allegedly interfered with the SABC board and the appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as chief operating officer not long after her appointment as minister, the inquiry into the public broadcaster heard yesterday.
Muthambi reportedly surprised some board members by rocking up unannounced at board meetings in the middle of the night.
Late-night meetings and the high frequency of secret meetings were the norm, according to former board members and a former SABC CEO who gave evidence to the inquiry yesterday.
Muthambi was said to have arrived at the SABC’s Auckland Park offices at 11pm one day as board members were busy discussing Motsoeneng’s appointment as COO. The meeting in question followed the release of the former public protector’s report on the SABC.
First up to give evidence at yesterday’s inquiry was former board member Ronnie Lubisi, who also sat on the SABC’s audit committee.
Lubisi said after the installation of a new board, which was chaired by Ms Ellen Tshabalala, a meeting was held on or around July in 2014 with Muthambi in attendance.
“Amongst the matters that the minister raised with members of the board was that the then acting chief operations officer Mr Hlaudi Motsoeneng had been acting for too long and she suggested that we need to appoint him permanently. At that stage we were dealing with the Public Protector’s report which had made some unfavourable findings against Motsoeneng,” said Lubisi in his submission to the committee.
He said during the meeting Muthambi told them that the board had problems. “Her perception was that the board was dysfunctional. Former chairperson of [the] board Ms Tshabalala and Mr Motsoeneng mentioned that the major problem of the board was specifically myself and Professor (Bongi) Khumalo, who were mentioned as some of people causing problems on the board,” Lubisi said.
Former CEO Lulama Mokhobo said things had deteriorated to the point of them having “very unbecoming arguments in the board”.
“There indeed were a great deal of fights. And fights would spill over into media, which was hugely embarrassing,” said Mokhobo.
She said Motsoeneng had “undermined” her.
Meanwhile, the DA has welcomed the unanimous decision by Parliament’s ad hoc committee that SABC board chairman Mbulaheni Maguvhe should be issued with a legally binding summons to appear before the committee – after his no-show yesterday – to account for the apparent collapse of good governance at the public broadcaster.
The inquiry will continue today.