Former SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng will know today if the ad hoc committee into the SABC will call him to give evidence.
The committee is meeting today to draft an interim report and discuss a proposal that Motsoeneng be hauled before the committee.
This followed a litany of allegations made against him by former SABC board members and executives.
Chairperson of the ad hoc committee Vincent Smith said it was not a foregone conclusion that Motsoeneng would be given an opportunity to appear before the committee.
The request for Motsoeneng to come to Parliament was made by the UDM after is chief whip Nqaba Kwankwa said the former COO needed to state his side of the story.
But Smith warned that he did not want to open up the process after the last two witnesses testified.
Former SABC board chairpersons Ben Ngubane and Ellen Zandile Tshabalala gave evidence last week. Both defended Motsoeneng’s appointment.
He was fingered by some former board members as being central in the MultiChoice deal, where the SABC was paid R550 million.
The draft report, which has come to the public's attention, says the deal needed to be annulled together with other deals.
Smith said it was up to the committee to decide what to do with the report. The report will be discussed and a decision taken on some of the recommendations.
Smith said the issue of Motsoeneng would be discussed as it was raised by Kwankwa. However, this was in spite of the ad hoc committee's decision to close the process.
“In terms of the request for him to testify, there must be strong justification. There was a committee decision taken last Thursday that we are closing the process. But the committee will discuss it,” he said.
It was not only Motsoeneng who wanted to give evidence, as other people implicated in the hearings have also asked to state their version of events.
Smith warned that it would not be easy to allow Motsoeneng to testify.
“Remember our mandate is about the fitness of the board to hold office.”
He said those implicated in the report would have to wait until next Tuesday, when the committee releases an interim report. They would be given an opportunity to respond to the allegations made against them.
The committee has until the end of next month to table a final report in the National Assembly.