The Congress of the People (Cope) will be opening a case of fraud against controversial South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) executive Hlaudi Motsoeneng on Friday. The party alleges that Motsoeneng “sometime in 2013‚ unlawfully and improperly disposed of key state assets‚ namely the SABC Archives‚ to MultiChoice without the authorisation of the SABC board”.It has been widely reported that it was the sale of these archives that earned Motsoeneng a reported R11.4-million bonus. The SABC has repeatedly dodged questions about the payout. “He signed off the contract knowing fully well that the rights to do so were vested only on the CEO and not him as COO‚” Cope’s Dennis Bloem said.The charges will be laid at the Brixton Police Station in Johannesburg. Meanwhile‚ the defiance of the SABC board in the face of a call by Parliament’s portfolio committee on communication for it “resign with immediate effect” attracted the ire of the Democratic Alliance. The party’s James Selfe said board chairperson Prof Mbulaheni Maguvhe had on Thursday “made it clear that he would not do the honourable thing by acceding to the portfolio committee on communication’s request that the board resign with immediate effect”.“Maguvhe showed no remorse for the mess at the SABC‚ instead questioning the decisions made by the committee. Maguvhe was obstinate in his insistence that he is going nowhere‚” Selfe said.The board had been summoned by the parliamentary committee on Wednesday to give an account of the controversial appointment of the former chief operations officer Motsoeneng as group executive for corporate affairs. This came after a court upheld a judgment which ruled that his appointment as chief operations officer was unlawful.The committee resolved to demand that the board members resign and for the board to be the subject of a parliamentary inquiry.Maguvhe had told media on Thursday that the committee is “bullying me to resign”‚ and threw down a gauntlet: “Let the inquiry come. I am ready for it. So it means I am going nowhere.” Selfe said of the chairperson’s challenge: “If Maguvhe is intent on taking the low road then Parliament will have no option but to proceed with the decision to institute a formal parliamentary inquiry into the fitness of the Board‚ and reveal the full scope of its malfeasance to the public.” He urged Parliament to “stick to its guns and institute this inquiry forthwith‚ because for too long the board and Hlaudi Motsoeneng have acted shambolically and without due regard for the Constitution and the principles espoused therein”. – TMG Digital..