Cape Town – A day after the 12-member SABC board was appointed, President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday (Thursday) defended his delay in appointing the board of directors by four months.
“In appointing members of the SABC board, or in performing any other obligation, I have a responsibility to ensure that proper lawful processes have been followed, including before the matter is brought to me,” he said.
He made the statement when he was responding to written parliamentary questions regarding the delayed appointment of the SABC board.
IFP MP Mkhuleko Hlengwa and DA MP Diane Barnard Kohler wrote to Ramaphosa separately.
Hlengwa enquired about the details of the outstanding legal issues that Ramaphosa needed clarity on.
He had also wanted to know, in terms of the Broadcasting Amendment Act, what exactly Ramaphosa relied on to delay the appointment.
Kohler Barnard had asked when Ramaphosa intended to appoint the new board.
In his response, Ramaphosa furnished the same standard reply to the parliamentarians’ questions.
He said the full submission on the appointment of the SABC board was only made available to him in mid-January 2023.
Ramaphosa said National Assembly Speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, had, in a letter dated April 10, indicated that the resolution adopted by the National Assembly last year was lawful.
“I duly appointed the SABC board on April 17, 2023,” he said.
Ramaphosa’s replies came a day after he announced the board with Khathutshelo Ramukumba as the chairperson and Nomvuyiso Batyi as the deputy chairperson.
In his appointments, he appointed Palesa Kadi on the reserve list in place of Franz Kruger, who was in the initial list of the names of 12 members recommended by the National Assembly last December.
The long-awaited appointment was welcomed but not without criticism, with the DA accusing him of deliberately delaying the appointment while others suggested how board appointments should be handled in the future.
On Wednesday, IFP MP Zandile Majozi said: “The role of the public broadcaster cannot be overstated, particularly as the country approaches an election year, and we count on all new SABC board members to fulfil their responsibilities without fear or favour, in the best interests of South Africa’s constitutional democracy.”
The SACP, which indicated relief that the appointments had been been finalised, said the directors should help the SABC to stay true to its developmental mandate.
“This must include ensuring that management attracts talent to work at SABC, such staff are trained and retooled to understand that SABC is different from other commercial and capitalist media platforms,” acting spokesperson Mhlekwa Nxumalo said.
Nxumalo also said Parliament should be stringent in ensuring that basic governance and ethical principles were observed.
“For example, it is unfortunate and regrettable that Parliament saw it fit to recommend a recently fired executive of news at the SABC to be one of the board members,” he said in reference to the appointment of Phathisa Magopeni as a board member less than a year be quit the entity.
Nxumalo added that the SACP also strongly believed that in selecting board members of the SABC, there should be careful consideration of the skills pool as it noticed there were many board members with news background.
“It is important, therefore, to have a pool of board members who bring a much broader understanding and expertise in other areas of importance in the role of the public broadcaster,” he said.
Cape Times