General views of the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) building in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, 18 November 2020. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s dithering in the appointment of a new board for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is having a negative impact on the public broadcaster, as crucial decisions await board approval.
According to Michael Markovitz, a former member of the previous board and head of the Media Leadership Think Tank at Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibbs), the absence of board oversight at the entity is worrying despite management running day-to-day operations.
“Management cannot take decisions that are above their delegated level of authority. These decisions require the approval of a board. It is obviously a concern for SABC to have no accounting authority for nearly four months, particularly given the financial challenges faced by the public broadcaster.
I am sure there are a significant number of board-level decisions that have piled up since October last year.”
Board appointments lie with Ramaphosa and Parliament, in terms of the Broadcast Act.
ALSO READ: ‘It’s unlawful’: Legal action looms after CEO given power to serve as SABC board
The latter completed interviews last year and sent the final 12 shortlisted candidates to Ramaphosa in early December, with three additional names serving as a reserve list.
However, nearly four months later, the SABC is still without a board.
While the SABC falls under Communications Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni’s portfolio, she has no say in the board appointment in terms of the law.
Parliament’s processes last year were also significantly delayed by the vetting of the candidates, which is done by the State Security Agency (SSA).
“It took the SSA an incredible two months to vet only 37 shortlisted people. This is in addition to Parliament starting the process at least one month too late. The delay is therefore not only on the President’s side but Parliament and the SSA must shoulder the blame as well.”
“Management is in charge of day-to-day operations and these continue in terms of delivering all SABC radio and television services. But without an accounting authority for such a long time, the governance and stability of the SABC have been seriously prejudiced,” said Markovitz.
He said his fellow board members had left revenue concerns that needed serious attention from the incoming board.
Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Dianne Kohler Barnard said Ramaphosa in the new year requested CVs and clearance certificates of the proposed candidates.
“There’s been radio silence since then. When queried about this, the Presidency stated that the names of the board candidates could not yet be gazetted due to the closure of government printers.
“This has left the broadcaster in the hands of just three people, namely the CEO, CFO and COO while there are crucial decisions that require board approval and oversight.
“The SABC is sinking under the weight of major financial problems, with the Auditor-General found that irregular expenditure sits at almost R5 billion.”
READ MORE: Calls mount for Ramaphosa to appoint new SABC board
In a written reply to questions, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the President has requested clarification from National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula over the three additional names sent over to Ramaphosa.
He said communication from the Parliament didn’t give the legal status of the three.
“The Act does not provide for a ‘reserve pool’ of candidates. Thus, the President has sought clarity from the Portfolio Committee to address his concern about the legal validity of having chosen a ‘reserve pool’ of candidates.
“The report of the portfolio committee indicated that the committee felt the list of twelve shortlisted candidates could not be finalised until the security vetting process was completed.
“However, nothing is said about the vetting of the three additional names provided – was it done, and in light of the committee’s view on the necessity of such, and what are the implications if such a vetting was not done?”
Furthermore, said Magwenya, the committee indicated in its report to Ramaphosa that objections were raised against certain shortlisted candidates.
“The report from the portfolio committee does not provide any indication whether or not objections sent to them were considered.
“The President believes he would not be fulfilling his own constitutional obligations if he could not satisfy himself that these objections were considered, and the committee satisfied itself of their validity or dismissed them.”
Meanwhile, non-profit organisations Media Monitoring Africa and SOS Coalition have threatened government with legal action after Ntshavheni told SABC that CEO Madoda Mxakwe is now the designated “board.”
“In terms of the law, the group CEO has been designated by ministers of communications in concurrence with the finance minister as the board of the SABC,” she said after the State of the Nation Address (Sona) in Cape Town last week.
The two organisations have slammed her statement, saying what she implied was unlawful.
Said Markovitz: “Even if it hasn’t happened yet, they have expressed an intention to do it [put Mxakwe in charge of board matters]. Such a designation would be unlawful.
“They want to use s49(2)(b) of the PFMA [Public Finance Management Act]. But it conflicts with the Broadcasting Act, which takes precedence over PFMA when it comes to the appointment of the accounting authority.”
The five-year term for the previous board expired in October 2022.
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