JOBURG – The Democratic Alliance (DA) will be taking legal action against the appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the SABC.
DA leader Helen Zille said, “The process of serving papers on Communications Minister Faith Muthambi and the SABC Board has begun, with the application to be made in the Gauteng High Court.”
The opposition party believed it had a strong legal case and said the appointment was irrational given the public protector’s findings against Motsoeneng.
Thuli Madonsela’s report found that Motsoeneng had misrepresented his qualifications, his salary had almost doubled within a year from R1.5 million to R2.4 million, and he was responsible for “purging” senior staff at the public broadcaster.
The DA also said no other candidates were considered for the position. “When appointing a person to such a post, it would be necessary to consider a variety of possible candidates in order to find the person best suited. It appears that the board did not perform that exercise,” said Zille.
She added that it was time for citizens to reflect on the state of the SABC. “We must act now to correct the destructive course the SABC is on by confronting the mismanagement of our public broadcaster,” she said.
