Parliament's communications portfolio committee has nominated five people to serve on an SABC interim board that is set to operate for six months.
The committee made the nominations yesterday after it convened an urgent meeting just a day after Parliament adopted a report of the SABC ad hoc committee and formally dissolved the board, which had only three executive directors.
Former board member Krish Naidoo, former ANC MP Febe Potgieter-Gqubule and former Business Unity SA chief executive Khanyisile Kweyama were among those named.
Former editor Mathatha Tsedu and author John Matisonn were also nominated.
Naidoo, along with Vusi Msimang, quit as board members when the SABC was briefing the committee over the appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as head of corporate affairs, despite a court ruling that he was not fit to hold office.
Testifying before the ad hoc committee, Naidoo had said he was fed up with the flouting of the laws at the SABC and the reappointment of Motsoeneng.
He had also said the board was never informed of the sale of SABC archives for R470 million to MultiChoice.
Committee chairperson Humphrey Maxegwana said the names of the nominated people would be tabled before the National Assembly for approval and adoption.
“We are facing a tough job, together with the interim board, to ensure the full implementation of all the recommendations,” he said.
President Jacob Zuma previously said he would wait for the National Assembly to end its inquiry into the SABC and then be guided on the board’s future.
This was after the last non-executive board member, Professor Mbulaheni Maguvhe, resigned after his failed bid to interdict the parliamentary inquiry probing the board’s fitness to hold office.
On Tuesday, the SABC board was formally dissolved when the ad hoc committee’s report was adopted by most parties.
In its report, the committee recommended the dismissal of Minister of Communications Faith Muthambi, after criticising her for “displaying incompetence in carrying out her responsibilities as a shareholder representative”.
It recommended that the interim board institute a forensic investigation into all financial irregularities.