South Africa: South Africa Communiqué Update: The SABC in turmoil amid corporate governance

Parliament portfolio committee on communications (PPCC) has summoned the South African Corporate Corporation (SABC) board to explain the turmoil at the broadcaster and within the board. The board will meet the National Assembly’s communications committee on 24 August 2010. Committee chairman Ismail Vadi said the decision to call in the entire board had been prompted by an apparent corporate governance calamity within the board.

Ben Ngubane SABC chairman and Solly Mokoetle Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) have been in the spotlight recently with board members coveting for the duo to be sacked. Ngubane and Mokoetle will answer to PPCC, reporting on the board’s functionality, the broadcasters’ turnaround plan and appointment of the Head of News Phil Molefe. In his submission to Parliament, Ngubane uttered his concerns on problems riding the board and misleading communication from “other board members”.

He cited an email from David Niddrie, a media consultant, to the rest of the board on the presentation to Parliament, saying that it optimized the “acrimonious and confrontational environment in the board”. Niddrie also makes emphasis on the fact that Ngubane can make a separate submission to the board, however, he would have no right to utilize the broadcasters’ resources to do so. Adding, Ngubane and Mokoetle are “materially conflicted” about filling the post of head of news, they cannot be relied on to prepare and submit an accurate report.

Mokoetle should play no role in the parliamentary submission because he has been placed on terms by the board for the apparent dereliction in regard to the turnaround strategy and is guilty of “improper actions with respect to the news appointment process and other governance matters”.

Build up to SABC’s crisis, in December 2009  the president announced appointment of 12 new SABC board members with effect from 10 January 2010. Solly Mokoetle  appointed by the interim board as SABC GCEO, deemed as unconstitutional as the GCEO is appointed by the board, however the board accepted the appointment.

In January 2010 to July 2010, Mokoetle claims he is deluged with emails from the board and sent a graph to Ngubane illustrating who sent the most emails. On 20 May 2010, Ngubane confirmed permanent appointment of acting head of news and current affairs Phil Molefe without board approval. Latter, 10 board members declare the appointment null and void decide to consider other candidates. On 3 August 2010, Mokoetle wrote a memo to Ngubane complaining about the pressure from the board, in the same month [August] he was asked to provide reasons why the board should not suspend him.

Meanwhile, the Mail&Guardian newspaper has report on 20 August 2010 that the SABC’s losses for the period April 2009 and 31 March 2010 have been halved, from R980million to R485million. The losses had been reduced because of extreme cost-cutting measures, that included not spending on programming especially local content.

- August 20, 2010 by MISA

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Source: www.misa.org (received via email alert on 20.08.2010)