The war between Alex FM board and the Listeners Forum goes to the court of law

ALEXANDRA – The chairperson of the board, Isaac Mangena, said the board strongly feels that the CCC findings and judgment were unfair and unbalanced.

August 9, 2019

Nduduzo Nxumalo 1 minute read

Alex FM chairperson Isaac Mangena speaks during community engagement meeeting. Photo: Nduduzo Nxumalo.

The board of Alex FM has resolved in its meeting on 2 August to appeal the outcomes of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) Compliance Complaints Committee’s (CCC) decision to nullify its election into the office last year.

This was after the CCC found that the election process of the new board members of the station during the general annual meeting on 9 December last year was invalid after the Listeners Forum lodged a formal complaint to Icasa regarding the elections process.

According to the CCC findings, attendees of the meeting did not identify themselves as members of the community but identified themselves as members of political parties which were also mentioned in the register. The committee said radio stations are not permitted to be affiliated to any political party and the mere fact that attendees of the elective meeting mentioned that they were from certain parties affected the validity of voting process.

The chairperson of the board, Isaac Mangena, said the board strongly feels that the CCC findings and judgment were unfair and unbalanced.

Alex FM board members. *Photo: Nduduzo Nxumalo*

“We believe that the CCC erred in most of its findings in the judgment and ruled on aspects that were not of contention including whether the new board should or should not have met with the so-called Listeners Forum, a group which we have found disbanded when we were elected.”

“It’s for these reasons that we have resolved to the outcomes of the CCC and have a court of law help in reviewing it,” Mangena said.

Spokesperson of the Listener’s Forum Jethro Mokoena said they were very disappointed by the board’s move to appeal the findings of the CCC.

“We are very disappointed by the move of the board to appeal the matter instead of the correcting matters at hand. They have a right to do so and we respect that but we are extremely concerned about this move that will cost our station more money.”

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