In a groundbreaking ruling the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday slammed and declared illegal the so-called "Memorandum of Incorporation" for the SABC that was introduced by the controversial former minister of communications, Faith Muthambi, that the wayward minister used to hire and fire top executives at the SABC.
Judge Elias Matojane declared several clauses of the Amended Memorandum of Incorporation illegal that Faith Muthambi and her follow-upper and now also dumped Ayanda Dlodlo used to justify their meddling in SABC appointments and firings.
This amended version of the Memorandum of Incorporation that Faith Muthambi quietly introduced in 2014, illegally gave new powers to the minister of communications to directly meddle and interfere in the operations of the SABC board and SABC executives.
In his judgment Judge Elias Matojane noted the "systematic and repeated failures in the governance and management of the SABC" and said "the critical systemic causes of governance failures and mismanagement were found to have been caused by ministerial interference in the governance and operations of the SABC".
Judge Elias Matojane called the Memorandum of Incorporation illegal under which Faith Muthambi usurped sweeping powers to directly interfere in the executive workings of the SABC.
Judge Elias Matojane declared the Amended Memorandum of Incorporation illegal as far as the appointment, discipline and suspension of the SABC's CEO, COO and CFO goes and said the Memorandum is inconsistent with South Africa's Broadcasting Act and invalid.
Judge Elias Matojane said the Memorandum gave the minister of communications illegal powers that undermined the independence of South Africa's public broadcaster. In his judgment he reaserted that it's the SABC board - not a minister of communications - that controls the SABC.
In the judgment the court said it is the SABC board alone that, through its non-executive members, should and can appoint executive members - without any approval that is required by the minister of communications.
The judgment also said that the SABC board, without prior approval of the minister, can start disciplinary proceedings against the SABC CEO, COO and CFO.
The ruling also states that SABC board members can't be removed if it's not done strictly in accordance with the Broadcasting Act.
The case was brought to court by the Support Public Broadcasting (SOS Coalition), Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA).
The SOS Coalition and MMA said they welcome the judgment limiting ministerial powers and interference at the SABC, calling it in a statement "a victory for independence and media freedom in South Africa".
"The SABC board has the exclusive prerogative to appoint, through a transparent process, the CEO, CFO and COO and any other non-executive members of the board."
"Not only is the SABC board able to exclusively appoint the non-executive members, but they are also able to discipline and/or remove any such members. This makes the current SABC board the most independent board since the birth of our democracy."
