SABC wanted documents for Maguvhe in Word format not Braille‚ inquiry chair says

08 December 2016 - 11:51 By TMG Digital
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Professor Mbulaheni Maguvhe’s protest that his rights as a blind person had been violated is not a “legitimate argument”‚ the head of an inquiry into his fitness to hold office said on Thursday.

SABC board member and chairman Prof Mbulaheni Maguvhe‚ staged a walkout in the middle of the ad hoc committee meeting.
SABC board member and chairman Prof Mbulaheni Maguvhe‚ staged a walkout in the middle of the ad hoc committee meeting.
Image: Gallo Images

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) had indicated that it would translate documentation relating to the inquiry into Braille for its chairperson Maguvhe‚ ad hoc committee chair Vincent Smith insisted.

Maguvhe‚ the sole remaining board member‚ on Wednesday led the walkout of the SABC delegation from the committee’s sitting‚ claiming his he would not get a fair hearing and that the his rights were being trampled.

However‚ Smith said on Thursday morning that he did “acknowledge that the professor needed special treatment in terms of the documentation‚ meaning Braille”.

However‚ Smith told Radio 702‚ all witnesses involved in the probe were contacted on November 17 and told that if “anybody needed any sort of translation” they should make requests for this five days prior to the attending the hearings‚ for “logistical reasons”.

“The very next day‚ Theresa Geldenhuys‚ who is the company secretary of the SABC‚ wrote back to us asking to provide all documents for the professor in Word format‚ so that they as the SABC would do the translations.”

Smith said that the documents to be dealt with by the committee on Wednesday were reports from the Public Protector‚ Auditor-General‚ and the Independent Communications Authority of SA.

He said he had enquired of these statutory bodies if they had been requested to provide the SABC with documents in Braille‚ and they all had said no.

“In all those instances‚ number one‚ all those documents have been with the SABC for a long time; secondly‚ there has never been an issue of Braille. Only (on Wednesday)‚ a minute before we started the proceeding‚ they raised the issue of Braille.

“I recognise the disability‚ but I think that this was not a genuine request‚” Smith added.

– TMG Digital

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