The Support Public Broadcasting (SOS) public pressure group just congratulated the SABC board ''for beginning to address the serious corporate governance breaches at the SABC'' but also said ''further action'' is necessary.
This follows after the news that the SABC board chairperson dr Ben Ngubane has backed down from his unilateral decision to have Phil Molefe ''appointed'' as the SABC's new head of news - something which the SABC board immediately opposed and called ''null and void''. It took the minister of communications, genl. Siphiwe Nyanda to have a strongly worded meeting with dr Ben Ngubane, before word leaked that the process to appoint a head of news will resume and continue as per the SABC's corporate governance regulations which states that the SABC board will make the necessary appointment.
''The SOS congratulates the SABC board on beginning to remedy the serious corporate governance breaches at the SABC as regards the appointment of the head of news,'' the pressure group just said in a statement. ''SOS is heartened to hear. . . that in line with good corporate governance practices an interview panel will continue its assessment of candidates for the position and make recommendations to the SABC board.''
''However, SOS believes strongly that these corporate governance breaches can not be laid to rest here. [We] believe that it is still imperative that action is taken against the chairperson of the SABC board. SOS still calls on dr Ben Ngubane to resign. This is in light of the fact that he can no longer be trusted to lead the SABC. Dr Ben Ngubane unilaterally decided to appoint the head of news, thus circumventing the SABC's own internal processes. Further, SOS would like to know what action is being taken against the SABCs group CEO, Solly Mokoetle. Solly Mokoetle initially implemented dr Ngubane's illegal decision to appoint the head of news, Phil Molefe.''
