The acrimonious infighting between the SABC board and SABC board member Cawe Mahlati will now be investigated by the AG, with parliament's portfolio committee on communications who has decided to ask the AG to investigate the SABC board.
In September the SABC board chairperson dr Ben Ngubane shocked parliament when he announced that the SABC has "degenerted into serious dysfunctionality". He revealed that the entire SABC board has unanimously passed a vote of no confidence in Cawe Mahlati and wants her gone. Cawe Mahlati has refused to step down.
In a highly embarrassing public spectacle on 18 September with the whole SABC board in parliament, Cawe Mahlati lashed back in parliament against "the rampant maladministration and corruption in the SABC board" under the "autocratic and patriarchal" leadership style of dr Ben Ngubane.
Now the portfolio committee on communications, which had to decide what course of action to take next, unanimously decided to get the help of the auditor-general in to probe the SABC board which is once again seen as not providing any effective leadership. In the SABC's latest annual report, the SABC missed most of its set strategic objectives.
According to Eric Kholwane, chairperson of the portfolio commitee on communications, the comittee could recommend that Cawe Mahlati be removed from the SABC board, depending on the outcome of the AG's findings.
