The SABC is mired in a vicious and very public top level power battle and tug-of-war. Last Tuesday the SABC through a consensus decision removed Hlaudi Motsoeneng - who famously doesn't have matric - from his position of acting chief operating officer (COO). He was replaced by Mike Siluma.
Three days later, on Friday, Mike Siluma resigned. Other SABC board members - such as SABC chairperson dr. Ben Ngubane and deputy chairperson Thami ka Plaatjie - were then involved in unilaterally "reinstating" Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
Meanwhile the SABC board, in a very public rebuke of its own chairperson, remains adamant that neither the SABC chairperson, nor the deputy chairperson, nor both had the authority to unilaterally make that decision and says Hlaudi Motsoeneng is not reinstated.
The minister of communications, Dina Pule, is now blatantly questioning "the fitness of the SABC board to remain in office", while Eric Kholwane, the chairperson of parliament's portfolio committee on communications said yesterday that "Auckland Park is on fire!"
Now the SOS Coalition wants an emergency parliamentary meeting to resolve the biggest management crisis the broadcaster has ever experienced.
"The SOS Coalition notes with profound dismay and deep concern the ongoing crisis at the SABC, at the level of both management and the SABC board," says the SOS Coalition in a letter to parliament.
The SOS Coalition wants parliament to hold an emergency public meeting to address the internal conflicts which are threatening to tear the broadcaster apart from the top and the ongoing problems at senior management level at the SABC.
"Parliament must boldly address the ongoing instability at SABC board level," implores the SOS Coalition, the big public interest group concerned about public broadcasting in South Africa. "Parliament needs to thoroughly investigate the issues surrounding the removal of Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the resignation of Mike Siluma, and the ongoing instability at top management level at the SABC."
"We call on parliament to demand that the SABC is more forthcoming and transparent in its communcations to a very concerned South African public. It is deeply worrying that South Africans should learn of the goings-on and very public disputes from and instabilities within the SABC board and executive from the press citing unnamed sources instead of from the public broadcaster itself whose core function it is to communicate."
"We believe there is no time to waste," says the SOS Coalition, imploring parliament to have an emergency meeting with the SABC next week.
'We think its important that parliament asserts its authority and provides leadership in this crisis. Parliament appoints the SABC board and it is parliament that should hold the SABC board to account."
