'I can fix the SABC'

Ex-SABC board member, Andile Mbeki, yesterday begged for his old job, laying bare the state of the ailing broadcaster's finances and levelling damning allegations against its management

Andile Mbeki, who effectively served two terms on the public broadcaster's board, told Parliament's communications portfolio committee that he ought to be returned to office as: "I know what needs to be done."

He is one of 30 candidates who have been short-listed for the 12 board positions. The portfolio committee held a second day of interviews with the candidates in Parliament yesterday.

Of the 30 candidates, only Mbeki and Desmond Golding previously served as SABC board members. They were forced to resign in June after their Kanyisiwe Mkonza-led board was blamed for the financial and management crisis and was dissolved by Parliament.

An impassioned and fired up Mbeki said the broadcaster, which currently has a deficit of R1-billion, was bloated and claimed that the wage bill was an astonishing R1.8-billion.

Former CEO Dali Mpofu's salary had escalated by 19.5% to R4.5-million a year with board approval and despite the financial crisis.

Mbeki also claimed that managers abused their petrol cards by between R15000 and R70000 a month despite being told to trim costs.

The content hub, which four years ago employed just 30 people, now boasted over 450 personnel with a wage bill of R650-million a year.

The former board further stated that commitments made regarding the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, the 2010 Fifa World Cup and the 2014 event in Brazil, and costing over R600-million, were in jeopardy as there were no government guarantees despite claims otherwise.

The auditor-general, under order from the portfolio committee, will later this month present its report on a litany of allegations levelled by the board, management and staff.

Yesterday, Mpofu dismissed claims of any impropriety.

Begging the portfolio committee to return him to office, Mbeki said: "The value I will bring in addition to institutional memory . is an understanding of finances and culture of the SABC."

Most MPs, however, sounded unconvinced. Committee chairman Ismail Vadi, at one stage, said Mbeki "didn't understand [the concept] of once bitten, twice shy".

Golding, meanwhile, admitted that the institution was in the "financial doldrums" and said his appointment would also ensure that there is "a retention of corporate history".

He said issues regarding the broadcaster could have been handled differently and that the old board could have fast-tracked the restructuring of the SABC.

"I knew I carried out my fiduciary duty," he said, adding that he "doubts it very much" that the AG would find that the board reneged on its fiduciary duties.

Also interviewed yesterday were former ANC MP and communications chief whip Khotso Khumalo, ex-journalist and authors William Gumede and Pippa Green as well as former KwaZulu-Natal premier Ben Ngubane.