Far from Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda’s call for peace at a special meeting on Monday of the SABC board succeeding, it whipped up further discord.
According to press reports today, at least one board member resigned after Nyanda’s Monday meeting. The Democractic Alliance (DA) also criticised the minister for interfering beyond his mandated portfolio and called for him to be disciplined.
Nyanda’s call for a special meeting was apparently to sort out the infighting among board members which has been ongoing since its appointment in December.
According to a report in The Times, SABC board deputy chairman Felleng Sekha “is said to have contacted Nyanda late on Monday to tender her resignation and give her reasons for quitting’. Sekha has yet to confirm her resignation. She referred queries to Nyanda.
In recent weeks, two board members, Barbara Masekela and Magatho Mello, have resigned on the basis that the board is dysfunctional as a result of conduct by the chairman Dr Ben Ngubane who unilaterally appointed Phil Molefe as the head of SABC news. His appointment has since been made official. The board has also suspended CEO Solly Mokoetle based on serious management oversights.
At the Monday meeting Nyanda questioned the board’s appointment of the corporation’s chief financial officer, Robin Nicholson, as acting chief executive.
Natasha Michael, the DA’s communications spokesman, said the SABC board was not accountable to Nyanda with regard to such decisions, but to Parliament.
“We have written to the chairperson of the portfolio committee requesting that the minister appear,’ said Michael.
“We shall be adding these questions to the already long list of concerns we intend discussing and debating with the minister.”
