The Western Cape High Court has dismissed an application by SABC for leave to appeal against last year’s judgment which set aside the appointment of its chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng. In November‚ Judge Dennis Davis set aside the decision taken by the minister of communications Faith Muthambi to approve the recommendation of the SABC board of directors to appoint Motsoeneng. The court in November said the decision to appoint Motsoeneng‚ when there was a manifest need for a transparent and accountable public institution such as the SABC to exhaustively examine all of the disputes raised about his integrity and qualifications‚ could not be considered as a rational decision. “This is an indictment of Minister Muthambi who has shown persistent disregard for the rule of law and has managed the SABC as her personal fiefdom‚ subject only to her patron President Jacob Zuma‚” the Democratic Alliance’s federal executive chairperson James Selfe said in a statement. Selfe said the SABC had continued to waste taxpayers’ money by taking Davis’ judgment on appeal‚ which was dismissed on Monday. The setting aside of the appointment and suspension of Mr Motsoeneng is an opportunity to start getting the SABC back on track.SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said the broadcaster was going to petition the Supreme Court of Appeal for leave to appeal against Davis’ judgment...