Johannesburg – The sole remaining South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board member and its chairman, Mbulaheni Maguvhe, has resigned.
President Jacob Zuma received and accepted the Maguvhe’s resignation on Monday, the Presidency said.
“The President has thanked Professor Maguvhe for his services during his tenure at the SABC and wished him all the best for his future endeavours.”
The once defiant University of SA (Unisa) professor had vowed not to step down after one after another of his board members resigned, with two of them tending their resignations during a recent committee sitting in Parliament which sought to address the issues at the public broadcaster.
Maguvhe, his legal team and senior SABC executives then walked out of the official start of the inquiry by Parliament’s ad hoc committee into the affairs of the SABC earlier this month, saying that the process was not fair.
Maguvhe, who is blind, had through his legal team, requested from the committee that reports of the Auditor-General, Public Protector and Independent Communications Authority of South Africa be translated to braille, as not doing so could “jeopardise him”. This was given short thrift by the multi-party committee though, which said he had been given ample time to prepare adequately for the hearings.
In the end, the committee had summon him to appear at the hearing.
The committee heard seven days of explosive testimony about the “rot” that had beset the broadcaster, with MPs vowing to dig deeper when it resumes its work early next year.
MPs on the committee expressed deep concern at the belligerent behaviour of those running the State-owned broadcaster and the influence of the controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
Maguvhe though, told the committee that he believed Motsoeneng was doing a “sterling job” and defended his decision to vote for Motsoeneng’s permanent appointment as chief operating officer (COO) in July 2014.