Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday accepted the resignation of two board members of the SABC who resigned over the weekend, leaving the chairperson Mbulaheni Maguvhe as the only non-executive member.
“President Jacob Zuma has received and accepted the resignations of Ms Vuyo Mhlakaza and Dr Aaron Tshidzumba as members of the Board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), with immediate effect,” the Presidency said in a statement. “The President has thanked the two former board members for their contribution during their tenure at the SABC and wished them well in all their future endeavours.”
Mhlakaza and Tshidzumba tendered their resignations at the weekend. This emerged as the DA filed an application in the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town asking that SABC head of Corporate Affairs, Hlaudi Motsoeneng not be allowed to hold any position in the public broadcaster pending a review of the public protector's findings against him in a 2014 report.
Last month, two other members Krish Naidoo and Vusi Mavuso tendered their resignations after distancing themselves from controversial decisions taken by the board when the board and senior executive management appeared before the parliamentary communications portfolio committee.
MPs at the meeting resolved to ask all remaining board members to resign or face a parliamentary inquiry into their fitness to hold office. The portfolio committee asked that the board be dissolved and that an inquiry be held into the affairs of the SABC. But Maguvhe vowed not step down from his position, regardless of an inquiry into the affairs of the SABC.
In another development ANC MP and member of Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), Vincent Smith, was on Tuesday expected to be elected chairperson of the ad-hoc committee on the SABC Board Inquiry.
The committee will hold its first meeting on Tuesday in the National Assembly.
MPs are set to ask questions on corporate governance failures at the SABC and massive financial losses in the past few years.
The SABC lost R411 million this year and R395m last year. Its financials were also in trouble in the previous year, with a reported loss of more than R500m.
The SABC has been limping from one crisis to the next, with infighting preventing the previous boards from completing their term of office.
The public broadcaster has had almost a dozen chief executives in the past 15 years with none finishing their term of office.
Former chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng has been at the centre of the fights at the SABC. Former public protector Thuli Madonsela fingered him in the purging of staff in her report in 2014. She identified a number of irregularities at the SABC and called for action.
Political parties in Parliament have promised to clean up the SABC. MPs have said they believe the inquiry will get to the bottom of the rot at the SABC.
The inquiry has until the end of February to complete its work.
ANA and Political Bureau