Durban – Former SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng has said he does not need a position or matric to drive transformation, and he will drive it at any company or government department.
Addressing members of the ANC Youth League in Durban on Tuesday night, Motsoeneng said young people should emulate him by being radical in demanding transformation and job opportunities.
Despite having admitted to not having matric, Motsoeneng did not mince his words in saying that his life was not limited to the SABC. He said wherever he went he would drive transformation.
The Western Cape High Court ruled last week that Motsoeneng should be removed from his post as SABC COO.
However, Motsoeneng said not even the court would decide his future.
“Because no one produced Hlaudi, I produced myself.
“SABC is too little for me, I want to have more impact on all South Africans, because when we want someone who is not afraid, it is me,” he said.
The ANCYL in KwaZulu-Natal had said it would campaign for Motsoeneng to be a member of the ANC national executive committee during the party’s general conference in December next year.
The league also wants him to be a minister.
Motsoeneng said what made him stand alone was that when he was sitting in meetings he knew what he was talking about.
“When you don’t know what you are talking about people are going to defeat you,” he said.
He lashed out at the former members of the SABC board who turned against him when they had previously voted in agreement with his decisions.
“Today they are turning back to say it is Hlaudi who took those decisions, which means I am the most powerful person in South Africa.
“If those decisions have assisted to empower black people, I am very proud,” he said.
Motsoeneng said he was proud that he had decided on and implemented a policy that 90% local music and 80% local movies should be played on SABC radio and TV.
He said he had also taken a decision that big companies which wanted to do business with the public broadcaster should first provide financial assistance towards higher education.
Another decision he made was that instead of young people going to Johannesburg to start their careers in music or acting, they should do it in their provinces.
“You see, at the SABC down there (SABC Durban building) we have a big space, which is the parking. We have decided to use that space to build studios for local young people to go there to start their talents,” he said. He said without a matric certificate he was a “very innovative person”.
“Why can’t other people do the same thing? I don’t have matric, but what I know is I don’t allow my background to be a stumbling block in my life.
“I can’t say that because I don’t have a degree I should go and steal or rob the bank. I use my brain to compete with these people with diplomas and degrees, and beat them big time,” he said.
He said he had told many countries in Europe and the US that if they wanted to have their movies aired on the SABC, they should have South Africans featured in those movies.
He said he would talk about the resignation of the SABC board chairman Mbulaheni Maguvhe when the time was right.
ANCYL eThekwini chairman Thembo Ntuli said the league would not apologise for its call for the ANC to include Motsoeneng on its NEC.
He said ANC veterans who were talking ill of him were “talking nonsense”.