Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the SABC chairperson Zandile Tshabalala, the group executive for human resources Jabulani Mabaso and the SABC's quitting CEO Lulama Mokhobo held a hastily convened press conference at the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters in Johannesburg today.
On Thursday the SABC top brass they tried to douse the flames, following a scathing independent skills audit report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) described by parliament as "shocking", "very worrying" and "a reality check" - and the resultant barrage of news coverage it elicited.
According to the skills audit report read in parliament, SABC personnel "do not trust the SABC's management team, or the SABC board" and question "the ability of the above-mentioned and demonstrate a negative attitude towards the organisation".
According to the report there's more than 2 200 SABC staff of which the SABC has no proof on file that they actually passed matric.
SABC employees have now also been uncovered to have fraudulent matric and Grade 10 certificates. There's also more than a 100 SABC staff at the SABC of which the broadcaster has no personnel file.
The skills audit at the SABC found that almost two thirds (62%) of the SABC's employee files had qualifications that's "not authentic" or were "incomplete". Of 24 SABC people the consultants could not find a matric certificate or a Grade 10 certificate, or it was "fraudulent" or "non-compliant".
The SABC on Thursday at its press conference said the report is old. The SABC's Jabulani Mabaso said the audit report is "not a true reflection" of the SABC and that it deviated from the brief.
It's not clear why the SABC, if the report is old as the South African public broadcaster claims, was still presented to parliament.
It's not clear why the SABC, if it knew what the skills audit report contained, didn't pre-organise a press conference for Cape Town on Tuesday or Wednesday to put the matter into perspective then - or why the SABC didn't pro-actively issue press statements on what it knew was going to be presented to parliament on Tuesday before the story blew up.
On Thursday the SABC, reactively, blasted news coverage on the SABC's dismal audit report during its press conference as "insulting" and "demeaning".
As Lulama Mokhobo is getting ready to leave the SABC as the 6th CEO in as many years at the end of February without a ready replacement, Zandile Tshabalala said at the press conference to journalists that "Right now I want you to go, knowing that SABC is stabilising".
"We have a plan for future," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng at the press conference. "Not quick-wins. We have a plan for future. We have put our strategy in place. The board is zooming on our strategy to say moving forward this is what you are going to do for the coming three years, for the coming 10 years."
