Could Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams be preparing to dissolve the SABC board?

A mere two weeks into her new job, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams is said to be hard at work as the new communications minister.

For her first battle, she has taken up the mammoth task of preventing the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) of going through with its 2019 retrenchments.

A recent City Press report states that the board received a “blistering” letter from Ndabeni-Abrahams on Friday morning following what has been billed a tense meeting on Thursday.

According to the publication, the minister mentions a R3 billion government guarantee and a R1.2 billion loan that the SABC applied for from government and Treasury respectively.

The SABC’s top management previously plead the case for retrenching 981 employees by invoking section 189 of the Labour Relations Act and confirmed that it had handed the matter to the Council for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) earlier this year.

The SABC has a staff complement of 3,380 employees, and makes use of 1,200 freelancers whose cost to the company came to just over R500 million.

SHOCKER. The aggressive new @CommsZA minister, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams @Stellarated, tells the SABC board in a letter she will no longer work with them or the turn-around task team, saying she 'realised that the SABC board was no longer acting in the interests of the company'. pic.twitter.com/L6aXgFKzNW

— TVwithThinus (@TVwithThinus) December 2, 2018

The aggressive comes from telling the board of a public broadcaster she won't engage with them anymore. Heavy-handed behaviour by politicians who are supposed to talk and engage and represent the public as public servants break relationships instead of building them.

— TVwithThinus (@TVwithThinus) December 2, 2018

The minister and her team also reportedly met with the unions and staff ahead of their meeting with the board and management was not even allowed to attend said meeting.

“She was threatening and very aggressive, as was her deputy. It felt clear she was preparing for a constructive dismissal of the board” a source told the publication.

In her letter, Ndabeni-Abrahams said she was forced to cut ties with the board and added that she would report the impasse to the president, parliament and all relevant stakeholders.

“We realised that the board was no longer acting in the interests of the company, the shareholder, and parliament as the representative of [the] South African public to which the SABC board is accountable,” read the letter.

The @Our_DA party's @zilevandamme in a statement: "The fact that @CommsZA minister @Stellarated decided to 'desist from all engagements with the SABC board' because it refused to take her instruction to halt retrenchments is puerile and in violation of the SABC’s independence." pic.twitter.com/SEYAV1vGAC

— TVwithThinus (@TVwithThinus) December 2, 2018

She also went on to allege in her letter that she asked the board to suspend the retrenchment notice in order to give her team time to familiarise themselves with the turnaround strategy and bailout application ahead of their meeting with the finance minister to discuss the public broadcaster’s financial position.

This request was denied.

Another source claimed that the minister’s actions were politically motivated in an effort to replace the current board – which is viewed as widely independent and impartial – with a board that is more amicable towards the governing party’s interests ahead of the 2019 elections.

Her actions have been branded unlawful.

When asked for comment, the minister’s spokesperson Nthabeleng Mokitimi-Dlamini said the minister would only comment after the matter is resolved.

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