Thursday, August 12, 2010

BREAKING. ''They don't talk to him anymore.'' Massive stand-off between SABC board and its chairperson Ben Ngubane.


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''The SABC no longer talks to the chairperson dr. Ben Ngubane,'' a source very close to the SABC board just told me after the shocking resignations of SABC board members Barbara Masekela and Magatho Mello.

ALSO READ: SABC board members Barbara Masekela, Magatho Mello resigns. ''The situation is completely untenable''.

''Any semblance of any kind of relationship between the SABC board and dr Ben Ngubane has broken down beyond repair,'' a source close to the SABC board with intimate knowledge of what's happening at the highest level inside the beleaguered South African public broadcaster just told me. ''They [SABC board] don't talk to him really. He's avoiding them anyway. They talk in meetings if he's there. He's banking on political intervention to save him. He's desperately trying to legitimize and illegitimate process,'' another close source told me regarding dr Ben Ngubane's unilateral ''appointment'' of Phil Molefe as the SABC's head of news - an ''appointment'' that the SABC board declared ''null and void'' but that dr. Ben Ngubane and the SABC's group CEO Solly Mokoetle refuse to reverse. ''He's [Ngubane] trying to force SABC board members to go along with what he's done and decided and the majority won't do it.''

''Phil Molefe's new RX million salary for a period of five years as the head of news according to his new contract is completely irregular expenditure by the SABC,'' a source closely connected to the SABC board tells me. I have asked and I'm awaiting comment from the SABC on this.