Chris Maroleng has officially been appointed as the new, permanent chief operating officer (COO) at the SABC, starting 1 February 2018.
He replaces Bessie Tugwana who has been the SABC acting COO, following the controversial and contentious tenure of the famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng who lied about his qualifications and caused staff, operational, financial and morale chaos at the embattled South African public broadcaster during his tenure before he was eventually finally fired in June 2017.
The SABC has meanwhile quietly advertised in December 2017 for a new SABC CEO and new SABC chief financial officer (CFO), and announced on Tuesday that the deadline for applications has been extended to 14 February 2018.
Chris Maroleng's appointment as SABC COO was expected after SABC insiders and SABC board members in mid-January confirmed to TVwithThinus that the former eNCA (DStv 403 anchor has been the preferred candidate and that he will be appointed as the new second highest in charge executive at the SABC.
Chris Maroleng has a gargantuan task ahead of him at the SABC where the broadcaster - besides a financial crisis - faces systems, staffers, operational, editorial, content and broadcasting procedures that were torn down and needs to be rebuilt and repaired - alongside the worker morale, credibility and trust in the SABC and its damaged public brand image.
Chris Maroleng left the cellular company MTN at the end of December where he resigned as group head for corporate affairs to join the SABC. Before that he was eNCA Africa editor for 6 years as well as a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies.
Chris Maroleng has a BA (Hons) and MA degrees from the University of Cape Town and has received several post-graduate scholarships and awards.
"I look forward to playing a role as part of an executive team, in transforming the SABC into a world-class public broadcaster that is responsive to the needs of all South Africans," said Chris Maroleng in a statement on Tuesday.
The SABC in the same statement said "the chairperson of the SABC on behalf of the board of the public broadcaster is pleased to announce the appointment of Chris Maroleng as the chief operations officer of the SABC, with effect from 1 February 2018."
"Chris Maroleng has demonstrated considerable management and financial acumen and he is familiar with the cutting-edge Fourth Industrial Revolution issues that the SABC needs to embrace going forward".
In an altercation on live TV in April 2010 on the eNCA TV news channel, Chris Maroleng became a viral sensation after he was involved in the protection of an on-air guest, the political analyst Lebohang Pheko, during a heated discussion with the former AWB secretary general André Visagie, and his infamous retort to his aggressive guest, saying: "Don't touch me on my studio."
