Last two SABC board witnesses to face grilling

TWO FORMER SABC board chairpersons, Ben Ngubane and Ellen Tshabalala, face a grilling from MPs over the problems at the public broadcaster during their tenure.

The two will be the last two witnesses to appear before the ad hoc committee today, before it compiles its report on the SABC.

The ad hoc committee has until mid-February to submit its report to the National Assembly.

The hearings began last December after the decision by Parliament to conduct an inquiry into the state of governance at the public broadcaster.

Former chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng has been fingered by some of the former board members and executives as the man at the centre of numerous corrupt activities at the SABC.

Parties in Parliament agreed that the inquiry would be able to come up with solutions to these problems.

Ngubane was chairperson of the board for a few years before Tshabalala took over in 2014.

Ngubane’s board was dissolved by Parliament in March 2013 following infighting.

The same applied to the board that was initially led by Tshabalala, who quit in December 2015 amid a qualifications scandal.

She was succeeded by Mbulaheni Maguvhe, who also fought with MPs until he lost his court battle.

Maguvhe was the last board member to leave after other board members quit.

The committee wanted to finish its job in time. The chairman of the portfolio committee on communications, Humphrey Maxegwana, said they wanted to appoint an interim board to take over the SABC as soon as possible.

The committee will meet in the last week of the month to decide on the names of people to serve on the interim board.

He said they wanted a list of five names to steer the SABC until a permanent board was appointed.

The ad hoc committee has received more than 500 pages of submissions from witnesses who appeared before it last December.

The committee will have to consider this evidence when it compiles its report on the SABC.

But the National Assembly will take a final decision on the matter.

The ad hoc committee has said the decision of Parliament will determine what happens to those who are implicated in the report.

But the role of the committee was to get to the bottom of the issues at the SABC that led to the state of paralysis.

The two remaining witnesses are likely to be questioned on some of the decisions of the SABC during their time there.

Ex-boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng has been fingered