THE ANC in Parliament has come out guns blazing against the SABC, calling for the public broadcaster to immediately fire Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
The ANC said his appointment into his recent position as group executive of corporate affairs was illegal.
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu told journalists in Parliament on Wednesday the SABC board would face the axe after an inquiry into its fitness to hold office.
A fuming Mthembu said despite all the problems of the SABC, the last straw was hiring Motsoeneng in a different senior position, which was against court judgments.
A defiant SABC board and its executive management this week shuffled Motsoeneng to the position of group executive of corporate affairs.
This was after the Supreme Court of Appeal said his appointment as chief operating officer (COO) was irrational and must be set aside.
The portfolio committee on communications, chaired by senior ANC MP Humphrey Maxegwana, will now institute an inquiry against the board.
This would lead to the dismissal of its members.
Mthembu said members would not allow an organisation that does not respect court judgments.
“The appointment of the corporation’s former COO – whose previous appointment was also set aside by the courts – to another senior executive position is without doubt the last straw that the broke the camel’s back.
“The decision to reappoint the former COO is in complete violation of the judgments of both the (Western Cape) High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal, and it points to a management that has no respect for the rule of law,” he said.
“The decision is unlawful, and the board has a responsibility to immediately meet and rescind it.”
The board was in complete violation of its statutory obligations and would face an inquiry, he added.
This would be the second SABC board that would face an inquiry in a period of five years.
A previous board faced an inquiry under then-chairperson of the portfolio committee on communications, Eric Kholwane, now the finance MEC in Mpumalanga.
The board was accused of a number of irregularities and the breaching of its fiduciary duties.
It was dissolved after the inquiry by the portfolio committee at the time.
An interim board was then appointed to lead the SABC.
But Mthembu read the riot act to the current board, saying it cannot be complicit to the complete disregard for the law at the SABC. He said the rules of Parliament and the Broadcasting Act allowed the portfolio committee to institute such an inquiry against the board.
According to him, the problems at the SABC had gone on for far too long, and the buck stopped with the board.
He said the inquiry would seal the fate of the board, and it would need to explain when the position of head of corporate affairs become vacant. This is expected to help determine if due processes were followed.
Mthembu said he had spoken to Maxegwana, and there was consensus on the inquiry.
ANC MPs would fully take part in the inquiry, he assured the nation.
The SABC is due to announce its results for the year under review on Thursday
SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.