All the industry stakeholders who participated in the protest march against public broadcaster SABC on 4 June and who called for the removal of SABC board chair Khanyi Mkhonza, can feel vindicated to a point. Mkhonza has resigned as chair but surprisingly, remains on the board, at least for the time being.
Earlier in the year three board members resigned – Peter Vundla, Christine Qunta and Fadila Lagadian, two of whom cited leadership issues. The board and Mkhonza in particular, have consistently clashed with SABC executive management and generated flack from the industry, unions and parliament. The latter is despite the fact that the board has been subjected to political interference.
The current prevailing mood in the industry is that the board as a whole, together with the executive, need to take responsibility for the broadcaster’s financial crisis which sees it R800m in the red and owing R60m to producers of commissioned programming.
