The top SABC News managers Nothando Maseko, Sophie Mokoena and Sebolelo Ditlhakanyane got notices of disciplinary hearings over irregular expenditure of millions of rand and allegations of poor performance at the South African public broadcaster.
SundayWorld first reported that Nothando Maseko, the SABC's head of TV news, Sophie Mokoena as the SABC's foreign editor, and Sebolelo Ditlhakanyane, the SABC's head of radio news have all been asked to answer over issues ranging from irregular expenditure of R2.5 million regarding the use of a foreign news agency, as well as over alleged poor work performance.
Neo Momodu, SABC spokesperson said that "The SABC can confirm that the individuals have been subjected to disciplinary processes however, we will not share information nor discuss the merits of the disciplinary cases publicly".
Sebolelo Ditlhakanyane has reportedly decided to jump ship days before her scheduled disciplinary hearing over allegations of poor work performance and her failure to act against someone who was named in a forensic investigation report about the irregular news agency agreement, and apparently applied for early retirement.
What allegedly happened according to the report, is that Sophie Mokoena assigned stories to a new international news agency, Features Story News (FSN), without a contract - something that amounts to irregular expenditure by the SABC. FSN was signed after the SABC's existing contracts with Reuters and AFP had run out.
This landed Sophie Mokoena a disciplinary for alleged failure to adhere to the SABC's procurement policies when signing with foreign news agencies.
Both Nothando Maseko and Sebolelo Ditlhakanyane were apparently charged with alleged poor performance due to their alleged failure to submit operational plans for the year when the SABC's head of news and current affairs, Phathiswa Magopeni, asked them to do so.
Both Nothando Maseko and Sophie Mokoena also allegedly failed to submit their inputs for the SABC's upcoming national election coverage for 2019, leading to additional charges.
