If those who pilfered the public purse knew they’d be subjected to such scrutiny as the disgraced SABC board, they would curb their corruption, writes Don Makatile.
If anything, the ad hoc committee set up to probe the fitness of the SABC board to hold office has restored the decorum of Parliament.
It will take a lot to arrest the slide of Parliament into the farce it has degenerated into but, truth be told, this ad hoc committee has presented a favourable side of honourable members.
Throughout its sitting, it has given the public a peek into what parliamentarians can achieve if they put the pettiness of their political ideologies aside.
For a change, all parties clubbed together against a common enemy - the rot that has beset the public broadcaster.
On Friday, two former chairs of the SABC board, namely Dr Ben Ngubane and Ellen Tshabalala, came before the committee each drunk on their arrogance to preen their feathers like peacocks.
The committee was quick to throw the book at them, especially Ngubane who displayed some prima donna tendencies about not getting enough time to prepare for the sitting.
As it turned out, the committee had done things by the book, communicating with Ngubane’s lawyers to get their client to avail himself.
His lawyers had opted for January 10; the committee could only hear him a full three days later.
If he was serious about preparing his testimony, he had at least from Tuesday last week.
Anything else from him was pure petulance.
Committee chairperson Vincent Smith, who has displayed a cool head ever since the inception of the inquiry, chided that “someone is deliberately misleading Parliament and needs to be held to account”.
This reprimand must still be ringing in the ears of the culprits.
Among Ngubane’s claims was that “I saved the SABC, it was bankrupt when we came”.
But soon it was his word against that of former SABC editor Vuyo Mvoko, who said the SABC bled money in the Gupta brainchild of televised business breakfast meetings.
The MPs grilled him so much Ngubane sounded pitiably hollow when he said former chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s 63 percent salary increase “is not abnormal”.
Ngubane came to the inquiry with the weird sense of entitlement of the elite who have arrogated to themselves the role of milking the state-owned enterprises they are deployed to.
Thanks to the ad hoc committee chair Smith and his colleagues, Ngubane was made to see the error of his ways.
The less said of Tshabalala, the better. Her head was full of the baloney that she could tell the committee that “I reserve my right” to divulge the names of the politicians she alleged interfered in the affairs of the SABC during her tenure.
The SACP, which she implicated in attempts to gain favour for then Communications Minister Yunus Carrim, is already threatening to sue.
Tshabalala has had a terrible weekend because tomorrow she must name names!
Just as Ngubane left Parliament with his tail between the legs on Friday, Tshabalala sits with egg on her face from the drubbing she got, and is likely to continue to suffer tomorrow.
The MPs sitting on this committee deserve huge applause, even if it is for doing their job. Parliament had recently deteriorated into a comical den of iniquity, with MPs quibbling over trivialities like kindergarteners.
For once, through this committee, the members have assumed their honour anew.
If those who pilfered the public purse knew they’d be subjected to such scrutiny as the disgraced SABC board, they would curb their corruption.
And this nascent democracy would be served better.
Here’s to more of Smith and Co; take a bow.