SABC executives' turf war spills into public

TENSIONS between the public broadcaster's group chief executive officer Lulama Mokhobo and head of news Phil Molefe are likely to dominate discussions at the SABC board meeting tomorrow.

Molefe was this week placed on special leave after he and Mokhobo clashed over news coverage and access to the news diary. While some reports indicated that Mokhobo was unhappy about the amount of airtime given to suspended ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema, the Sunday Times has established that the real source of the tension is Molefe's unhappiness at being overlooked for the group CEO position.

Molefe is now understood to be holding out for a golden handshake. He was made acting group CEO after the departure of Solly Mokoetle and the ousting of Robin Nicholson.

Insiders said Molefe had thought he was the frontrunner when the selection process started and was stunned to find Mokhobo had been given the nod instead.

People close to the proceedings said Molefe was snubbed because of concerns over some appointments he made as acting group CEO - including his decision to entrust some of his responsibilities to Hlaudi Motsoeneng, whom he controversially made acting chief operations officer.

Molefe is said to have been taken aback by the cabinet's decision to appoint Mokhobo and was also angered by the manner in which the announcement was made.

"No one called Phil to say 'you are going back to your old job'. He saw the announcement on [morning news show] Morning Live at 6am," said an insider.

Board chairman Ben Ngubane insisted that he never made Molefe any promises.

"I never promised him he will be GCEO. It's impossible to make such a promise when there is an interview process," he said.

The tension between Molefe and Mokhobo came to a head when Mokhobo, who is under pressure from ANC figures unhappy with the amount of coverage the SABC is giving Malema, demanded access to the news diary. Molefe refused, claiming editorial independence. The league has accused Mokhobo of pursuing a factionalist agenda . "It is becoming clearer now that Mokhobo was appointed to pursue factional agendas in the SABC, and not fulfil the public broadcasting mandate of the SABC. She should know that all CEOs who lead the public broadcaster with a narrow factional agenda and mandate never last in the SABC," it said in a statement.

It is believed that Molefe wants to convince the SABC to pay him to leave, but the intervention team tasked with turning its finances around is unlikely to agree.

SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said he was not aware of Molefe's unhappiness at being overlooked for the GCEO post. "All we know is that he has been placed on special leave pending a meeting with the Group CEO to iron out issues. Only then will we know what the way forward will be."

Molefe denied claims he wanted a golden handshake. "People have made all sorts of assumptions. All that is being said about me not being happy is absolutely not true. I have always maintained a role in the organisation and that is in the newsroom and I am happy there."