Following a week in which acting chief operating officer (COO) of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Hlaudi Motsoeneng was removed from office by the SABC board (but without its chairman’s approval) and replaced by Mike Siluma, who resigned three days later and was replaced by Motsoeneng again (at the orders of the chairman), only to be told that by the board (minus the chairman) that his reinstatement was null and void, Minister of Communications Dina Pule convened an urgent meeting with the board on 5 March to discuss governance issues.
According to a statement issued by the Department of Communications the Minister “is most concerned about the latest breaches of corporate governance that are playing themselves out in public’.
Following the meeting, Minister Pule wrote a letter to the parliamentary portfolio committee on communications asking them to urgently look into the fitness of the SABC board to remain in office.
“The South African public deserves a public broadcaster that informs, educates and entertains them.
“I have asked Parliament, as the institution that interviews the board members, to advise if they believe this board is helping the government to deliver on its mandate to give South Africans access to quality public broadcasting, which is their human right,” said Minister Pule.
She added that a stable SABC was crucial in the country’s efforts to migrate from analogue broadcasting to digital terrestrial television successfully.
