ARE MPS UP TO THE TASK OF FIXING THE TROUBLED SABC?

SOUTH Africa’s public broadcaster, the SABC, is in trouble. It has been for years. But things are a little more dangerous than before. There are two critical processes on the go, one to address the SABC’s financial and governance crises and the second to appoint an interim board.

Each must be concluded in the public interest. If the processes unravel there may be little hope of arresting the SABC’s long-term decline and marginalisation. And that will also be a problem for democracy. Through its radio and television offerings, the SABC has the widest media reach in the country. With the rise in sponsored, commercial content and fake news globally and in South Africa, the country needs a professional, independent public broadcaster offering context, professional fact-checked news and a multitude of views.

The two critical parliamentary processes are the inquiry into the fitness of the SABC Board to fulfil its duties. This is being overseen by an ad hoc committee specially set up in 2016. The other is the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communication’s appointment of an interim Board. The ad hoc has done admirable work. But the process of completing its task is being held up by bickering between the governing African National Congress and the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance. It’s critical that this gets resolved. The work on appointing an interim Board is ongoing but it too needs to be concluded urgently. The ad hoc committee has hit a rocky patch. Members of the DA on the committee have walked out and haven’t endorsed a draft report produced by the remaining committee members.

Their complaints are that the report only contains findings and doesn’t include recommendations and that this has significantly watered down the power of the report. Also, in particular, they accuse ANC MPs of protecting Communications Minister Faith Muthambi by not including recommendations for her firing.

The broadcaster’s Board and management fought against the process. They walked out of proceedings and refused to provide documents and then maliciously complied through sending hundreds of emails. But the committee stood strong.

It heard testimonies from a range of key stakeholders. These included the public protector and the auditor general, as well as NGOs and human rights organisations. It also interviewed former Board members, former SABC employees and eight journalists who had been fired for standing up to management against its illegal ban on showing footage of violent protests.

The committee’s subsequent draft report captured the hours of testimony and pointed to a number of deep structural challenges.
It pointed to the conflict between the Broadcasting Act and the Companies Act. It said Muthambi had selectively used the Companies Act to give herself powers to fire Board members. The report said the SABC’s independence needs to be protected and that the Broadcasting Act is undoubtedly specific to the SABC, and is therefore the primary law applicable to the public broadcaster.

It also highlighted irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
The report highlighted the problematic role of Minister Muthambi and her tabling of the Broadcasting Amendment Bill, 2015 which calls for her to be given powers to appoint Board members. The report stated that this showed the lengths that the minister has been prepared to go to ‘concentrate power in the ministry.

It pointed to her illegal role in appointing Hlaudi Motsoeneng to the position of permanent Chief Operating Officer, despite the public protector’s findings that he lacked the necessary qualifications for the role.

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