How Hlaudi Motsoeneng used his access to political power to unleash a reign of terror is stuff for dictatorships, not a democracy like ours, writes The Star's editor Japhet Ncube.
Johannesburg - Listening to the testimonies of former and current SABC staff at the parliamentary inquiry into the goings-on at the public broadcaster, one can be forgiven for thinking that they are listening to how things are done at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) or some other state-run broadcaster in a dictatorship.
How Hlaudi Motsoeneng became a menace at the SABC, using his access to political power to unleash a reign of terror at the broadcaster, is stuff for dictatorships, not a democracy like ours.
What worries us is that it took a long time for the rot to set in at the SABC, and parliamentarians and the government looked the other way while board after board sank the broadcaster into more political and financial crises.
In many dictatorships the world over, pubic broadcasters are turned into lapdogs of the ruling elite and used to churn out propaganda in a bid to starve the population of news and important information.
South Africans should never allow that to happen to the SABC, which for decades has been used by different political players to further their own agendas at the expense of the people and the country. Thanks to our courts, Motsoeneng’s reign of terror appears to have come to the beginning of its end. The Western Cape High Court has given us a good starting point to deal with the lunacy by ruling that his appointment in any capacity at the SABC was unlawful.
But the testimonies of former and current SABC staff point to so much rot that we need a judicial commission of inquiry and for state agencies such as the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the elite crime unit, the Hawks, to be brought in to deal with the criminality.
There must be accountability for those involved in the looting of the SABC. Motsoeneng isn't alone in this. He could never have done so without the support and backing of those in power.
This parliamentary process offers South Africans a chance to end the rot at the SABC and to bring all the culprits to book. We must reclaim the SABC.