SABC chair tells of murder bids against execs

South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini says there have been attempts to murder officials working on cleaning out the rot at the broadcaster and that a smear campaign against board members and senior executives is ongoing.

This was due to the investigations into illegal activities at the broadcaster, he said.

Makhathini, who was speaking during a briefing to the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), on the progress made by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) in investigations into financial irregularities at the SABC, said the broadcaster was committed to recovering stolen money.

He said that the broadcaster would address the governance issues, and the binding remedial action stipulated by the public protector in 2014 would be implemented.

He referred to the ad hoc committee’s findings, as well as those of the auditor-general and the SIU input, saying that in the past financial year the SABC had conducted 180 internal forensic audits.

A committee member called on the SABC to provide information on the 180 internal forensic investigations currently under way.

She then questioned why the SABC was doing these investigations on its own when they already had a viable relationship with the SIU.

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