Two SABC board members resign during grilling in Parliament

Two SABC board members dropped a bombshell during an emergency meeting of Parliament's communications portfolio committee on Wednesday‚ when they tendered their resignations‚ saying the board was dysfunctional.

During the meeting Krish Naidoo and Vusi Mavuso distanced themselves from the SABC board presentation to MPs justifying the reappointment of former chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng as group executive for corporate affairs.

Naidoo and Mavuso told MPs they were not party to the presentation. They said his appointment was procedurally flawed and unlawful.

This means that the board‚ which is on the brink of being dissolved‚ now has only four members‚ meaning it cannot reach a quorum or take crucial decisions.

The board is meant to have 12 members‚ and needs nine for a quorum.

In 2014‚ disgraced former board chairman Ellen Tshabalala resigned after a fake-qualifications scandal and Bongani Khumalo stood down after several run-ins with Communications Minister Faith Muthambi. Thembinkosi Bonakele also departed to take up a position as commissioner of the Competition Commission.

The broadcaster’s boardroom woes were further compounded by the controversial axing of three more board members‚ Rachel Kildass‚ Ronnie Lubisi and Hope Zinde‚ in 2015.

Legislators on Wednesday lambasted SABC executives for Motsoeneng’s appointment as group executive for corporate affairs.

It emerged in Parliament on Wednesday that Bessie Tugwana‚ who had occupied the position of group executive for corporate affairs‚ is now acting chief operating officer at the SABC.

The ANC’s national executive committee‚ its top decision-making body between conferences‚ earlier this week demanded the SABC board remove Motsoeneng from his position.

But on Wednesday the SABC board doggedly refused to heed calls to sack him.

Motsoeneng and Muthambi‚ who has in the past staunchly backed the former chief operating officer‚ were part of the delegation briefing MPs on Wednesday.

ANC MP Mondli Gungubele said Motsoeneng did not qualify for any position at the SABC‚ in light of the damning public protector report.

“My understanding is that you [the SABC board] were supposed to implement‚ not review‚ the public protector’s recommendations ... the public protector reports have been found to be binding and have a legal effect. Yours is to implement. If you cannot implement‚ you take it on review‚” said Gungubele.

DA MP James Selfe said Motsoeneng’s reappointment as group executive for corporate affairs was strange in the face of numerous court judgments against him‚ in addition to the findings by the public protector.

Selfe also said a disciplinary hearing that cleared Motsoeneng of any wrongdoing following the release of the public protector’s report was a farce and second-guessed the report’s recommendations‚ which was the reason the DA had launched another court challenge.

EFF MP Floyd Shivambu said the SABC had engaged in a parallel process and ignored the public protector’s report.

“We are sitting here with an illegal appointee at the SABC ... even if he was appointed as a sweeper [it would still be illegal] ... the board must be instructed to reverse the appointment because such an appointment is illegal and constitutes maladministration‚” said Shivambu.

- TMG Digital/BDLive