SABC set to announce ‘major decisions’

The SABC headquarters in Auckland Park, Johannesburg. File picture: Cara Viereckl

The SABC headquarters in Auckland Park, Johannesburg. File picture: Cara Viereckl

Published Sep 27, 2016

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Johannesburg – Amid uncertainty over the fate of Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) called an urgent media briefing on Tuesday to announce “major decisions”.

The SABC said acting group chief executive, James Aguma, would announce major decisions regarding the corporation.

Guma is acting in the chief executive position while also holding the chief financial officer position on a permanent basis.

Other crucial positions at the broadcaster are also filled by acting appointments, and it is now reportedly mulling a proposal to appoint Motsoeneng as acting chief operations officer, after the Supreme Court Appeal denied leave to appeal a high court ruling invalidating his permanent appointment to that post two years ago.

Following the SCA’s decision, the SABC board reportedly wrote to Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi, requesting that she re-appoint Motsoeneng. However, the African National Congress (ANC) has urged the minister to respect court rulings, suggesting she would not have political support for such a move.

In the meanwhile, the Sunday press reported that Motsoeneng was paid R11.4 million in commissions or bonuses for facilitating a R500 million deal with MultiChoice to create SABC channels on DStv. In response, the Broadcasting, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers Union (Bemawu) on Monday called for his bank accounts to be frozen while the claims are investigated.

Democratic Alliance communications spokeswoman Phumzile van Damme on Tuesday said the time had come for Parliament to heed the DA’s call for a parliamentary inquiry into the crisis at the SABC.

It is expected that the broadcaster would announce a R500 million loss amid a poor fiscal performance in the last financial year when it tables its 2015/16 annual report on Thursday.

African News Agency

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