Johannesburg - The nomination for SABC board members attracted 90 people who were looking to become interns at the public broadcaster.
This emerged on Tuesday when the portfolio committee on communications discussed the filling of vacancies at the SABC board.
“The response of people who applied for internships, jobs and so on - 90 of those who responded said they were looking for internships,” committee chairperson Hlengiwe Mkhize said.
The committee first advertised four posts in October, and again in December, after the resignation of four more members.
The committee’s content adviser, Mbombo Maleka, said Parliament had received 323 nominations for the SABC board. He explained that the initial advertisement attracted 80 nominations and the second 153 - bringing the valid nominations to 233.
He said since there were eight SABC positions to be filled, the MPs need to shortlist 24 candidates next week and decide on a date for interviews.
Mkhize said one hiccup was that the email used to receive nominations became full, and an alternative email address had to be provided.
MPs were also unhappy that the committee’s secretariat did not provide a draft programme and time-line.
Questions were also raised about requesting an extension to complete the interviews and recommend preferred candidates to the National Assembly before March 30, when it closes business for the term.
“I thought that the administration, when briefing us today, will give us the whole programme. If the administration is not assisting, it gets to be frustrating,” said ANC’s Bongani Bongo.
Mkhize undertook to ensure the CVs of nominees were availed to the MPs “as soon as possible”.