Zuma must be held liable for plunging SABC into governance vacuum – SACP

The South African Communist Party (SACP) says President Jacob Zuma’s failure to appoint a permanent board for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has opened a governance vacuum at the public broadcaster.

The SACP has called on Zuma to appoint a new SABC board, as recommended by parliament, as a matter of urgency.

It has been just over three weeks since the National Assembly sent the president the names of 12 recommended board members, however, the Presidency says Zuma is “still applying his mind” to the list of candidates.

“South Africa must hold President Jacob Zuma liable should the SABC suffer any governance deficit or as a result incur any loss during this period of his inaction,” the SACP said in a statement.

The party has accused Zuma of sitting on parliament’s recommended names for appointment to the SABC board, “while the term of the interim board that did its best to turn around the ailing public broadcaster has expired”.

“President Zuma’s inaction has opened a governance vacuum at the SABC, and must be viewed by all South Africans as a cause for serious concern. The SACP calls on the President to appoint the SABC board as recommended by Parliament as a matter of urgency and avoid wasting any further time.”

On Monday, the Presidency and the SABC rejected claims by the DA that the public broadcaster’s staffers had been summoned to the Union Buildings.

The DA had claimed that it had been reliably informed that some SABC staffers, including acting general editor for news Kenneth Makatees and head of TV news Nyana Molete, had been summoned to Zuma’s office.

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