Carrim pledges to stabilise ailing SABC

MPS praise new minister’s commitment to fix entity

NEW broom Communications Minister Yunus Carrim may have no style, but he could be cool, according to one opposition MP.

He had members of Parliament’s communications oversight committee in stitches at times during a presentation this week on his plans for the remaining months of his short term in the position, and by the end of it they were eating out of his hand.

“Your passion and commitment, minister, really shine through and give us hope that this department will finally have the bold leadership that will take it forward,” remarked the IFP’s Liezl van der Merwe, adding: “I would venture to say maybe you’d be a cool minister. I don’t know if that’s parliamentary, but forgive me.”

With an election looming and interviews for a new board for the struggling SABC under way, Carrim has leapt into the fraught portfolio with an energy and blunt realism that has lifted the gloom that descended under his disgraced predecessor, Dina Pule.

The contrast in their approach could not have been plainer on the day Pule offered a grudging apology after being found guilty of concealing from Parliament her relationship with a man who profited from it.

Earlier, Carrim made it plain that he expected MPs to help him lash his department into shape.

His words set the tone for the SABC board interviews, which began immediately afterwards.

There had been fears, after the acrimony and charges of political interference that saw the previous board collapse, that no credible candidates would step forward this time.

Lumko Mtimde, a member of the ill-fated board that resigned en masse earlier this year, revealed he had had to be persuaded to accept his nomination.

“What has changed?” he asked rhetorically.

“I think now the shareholder (government) is represented by a new minister, and there is a commitment… that has also been shown by the interest in accepting nominations to serve in the SABC by so many South Africans… to ensuring the SABC becomes what

PICTURES: WILLEM LAW ON THE SPOT: SABC board interviews taking place in Parliament this week .