Hlaudi cleared in hearing slated as a ‘mockery’
SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng was cleared of misconduct charges last night following a controversial internal disciplinary hearing by the public broadcaster.
The judgment, which lasted more than an hour, was delivered by hearing chairman advocate Willem Edeling.
However, the hearing was criticised as unnecessary after the Western Cape High Court nullified his appointment.
The SABC pushed ahead with the flawed disciplinary hearing despite legal advice that Motsoeneng is not an employee of the broadcaster.
Advocate William Mokhari SC, the initial chairman of the hearing, informed the SABC that going ahead would amount to a futile exercise as Motsoeneng was no longer in the employ of the broadcaster. He cited the high court ruling delivered by Judge Dennis Davis last month.
Mokhari terminated the hearing on a legal technicality, but the broadcaster ignored his advice and continued without him.
Mokhari was appointed by Communications Minister Faith Muthambi, a move slated by members of the SABC board who complained that she was usurping their power.
Attorney Sandile July, the hearing’s first lead prosecutor, also questioned the process.
In correspondence with the SABC, July advised the broadcaster that Davis’s judgment — that Motsoeneng’s appointment was invalid — stood, despite plans by it and Muthambi to appeal. The SABC also sought to meddle in the disciplinary process, dictating to July how to handle Motsoeneng’s prosecution.
“When July drafted pre-trial minutes together with Hlaudi’s lawyer, Zola Majavu, he said that, according to the SABC code of conduct, the appropriate sanction for charges of a serious nature is dismissal. The SABC called him, saying they don’t agree with him that Hlaudi should be dismissed,” said a lawyer close to the process who asked not to be named.
A letter from company secretary Theresa Geldenhuys followed, confirming that July’s appointment was improper and asked him to send an invoice for work done. The SABC then appointed Marooti Ledwaba as prosecutor of the hearing.
Mokhari, appointed in the same manner as July, was initially allowed to continue chairing the hearing. However, his relationship with the SABC has also turned sour after his services were terminated last week.
Mokhari said: “He [Motsoeneng] is no longer the COO. You can only discipline a person if there is an employer-employee relationship.
“That [high court] judgment is effective until it is reversed by another court.”
On the same day that Mokhari terminated the hearing, the SABC filed an appeal against the high court ruling — in the belief it would allow the disciplinary hearing to continue.
“I said even if you have appealed, there is a judgment that you can’t ignore,” Mokhari said.
In another comical development, Ledwaba also left, apparently after raising the same concerns as July. Ledwaba declined to comment.
Mokhari said he was not informed about the resumption of the hearing and being replaced by Edeling.
“I have made a ruling. My ruling is final and binding unless they take it on review. Those proceedings are clearly unlawful,” said Mokhari.
Another lawyer, who asked not to be named as he had done business with the SABC, said it was clear that the hearing was being fast-tracked to use the outcome as evidence in Motsoeneng’s appeal against Judge Davis’s ruling.
He said there was no doubt that a predetermined outcome had been agreed between Majavu and the public broadcaster.
“Hlaudi is disciplining himself. Those proceedings are a mockery.”
I said even if you have appealed there is a judgment that you can’t ignore