Accusations rain down on Hlaudi
Former SABC bosses line up to expose rot
FORMER SABC CEOs and board members have laid bare Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s reign of terror at the public broadcaster, claiming that he treated them like juniors and demanded arbitrary pay hikes. Spilling the beans on the rot at Auckland Park this week during a parliamentary inquiry into the SABC, former CEO Lulama Mokhobo painted a picture of Motsoeneng running the public broadcaster like his personal fiefdom. Board meetings, she said, were often convened behind her back. Mokhobo, who appeared before the committee on Thursday, said the SABC board under the chairmanship of Ben Ngubane had a “significant leaning” towards Motsoeneng. “There were many instances where Mr Motsoeneng had meetings with the board chair and other board members, meetings conducted without my knowledge or presence.
“Things were planned which I would not be aware of [and] made to [make me] appear as if I didn’t know what I was doing,” said Mokhobo. She told MPs she had been “juniorised” to the point where Motsoeneng was running the SABC show solo.
“It seems Mr Motsoeneng was, to use the slang, the go-to man,” said Mokhobo.
There were more shocking revelations from former acting CEO and head of news Phil Molefe.
He told of how Ngubane and Motsoeneng called him to a meeting where a letter had been prepared for him to sign, authorising a R500 000 pay hike for the former acting chief operating officer.
Molefe testified that when he refused to sign, Motsoeneng told Ngubane: “This is not our man; I am going to Pretoria tonight” — a clear reference to the higher powers in national government.
Molefe also gave evidence that Motsoeneng orchestrated the removal of board members who did not agree with him, including the former group executive for public and regulatory affairs, Phumelele Ntombela-Nzimande, who is married to Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande.
Molefe said Motsoeneng threw his weight around in the company of members of the Gupta family who wanted business from the SABC.
“Motsoeneng arrived with one of the Gupta brothers who were keen to do business with the SABC,” said Molefe.
Former board members Ronnie Lubisi, Krish Naidoo and Vusi Mavuso gave damning testimony about Communications Minister Faith Muthambi, who they accused of having influenced the board.
They testified that late-night board meetings and secret meetings were the order of the day. In one instance in 2014, Muthambi arrived at Auckland Park at 11pm, after a board meeting to discuss Motsoeneng’s appointment as COO.
“She suggested that we need to appoint him permanently,” Lubisi told the committee.
“At that stage we were dealing with the public protector’s report, which had made some unfavourable findings against Motsoeneng.”
He said this was the first meeting the board had with the minister. There were “parallel processes running unbeknown to us”, he added.
“Former chairperson of the board Ms Ellen Tshabalala and Mr Motsoeneng mentioned that the major problem of the board was specifically myself and Professor [Bongani] Khumalo, who were mentioned as some of people causing problems on the board,” said Lubisi.
Muthambi is expected to appear before the ad hoc committee this week.
Motsoeneng arrived with one of the Gupta brothers