Appointing execs in acting capacities 'contributed to dysfunction at the SABC’‚ former board says

09 December 2016 - 14:48 By Khulekani Magubane
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Former South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board member Krish Naidoo on Friday told Parliament’s ad hoc committee conducting an inquiry into the public service broadcaster about governance gaps which allowed decisions to be made without input from the board.

The committee held its third day of hearings into the state of the SABC‚ where group head of corporate affairs Hlaudi Motsoeneng has leapt from one senior position to the next after the courts set aside his appointment as chief operating officer.

The committee’s hearings continue despite SABC board chairman Mbulaheni Maguvhe earlier this week refusing to subject himself to the scrutiny of the ad hoc committee‚ contending that it was biased. This is despite the fact that his court bid to have the committee set aside days before it started had failed.

In October‚ Naidoo resigned in dramatic fashion during a Parliament portfolio committee meeting into the state of governance at the SABC. Naidoo said as things currently stood‚ the SABC could not make key decisions without a complete board or one with at least nine members.

“(The) board has legal incapacity to perform duties and make legally binding decisions. Nine members of the board are needed to do this. It is apparent that the board has no legal capacity to discharge its fiduciary duties‚” said Naidoo.

Naidoo said two attempts were made to remove him as a board member. One of these involved Communications Minister Faith Muthambi summoning him to a meeting to say that I did not attend meetings. 

“I told her representatives that I did not believe the information shared at meetings was correct. I asked her to remove me if she differed. She called me later and apologised‚ and said she never contemplated removing me. However‚ she wrote to me asking to give cause to why I should be removed‚” said Naidoo.

Naidoo said the constant filling of senior positions with people in an acting capacity created room for decisions to be made without the board being able to influence or change them.

“There used to be a process of appointing executives that was strictly allowed for acting appointees holding senior positions and that contributed to the dysfunction at the SABC‚” he said.

Regarding the archiving contract the SABC entered into with MultiChoice‚ Naidoo said he had a sinking suspicion that the deal was not above board. Ad hoc committee chair Vincent Smith told the committee that MultiChoice could be considered as a witness for the inquiry but only after court cases surrounding the matter have been concluded.

– TMG Digital/BusinessLIVE

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