by Thinus Ferreira
South Africa's struggling public broadcaster finally got a new SABC board on Tuesday after the country's recalcitrant president Cyril Ramaphosa bowed under increasing pressure and signed the list of names sent to him months ago, in an overdue process he delayed even further.
In a statement from the presidency, issued on Tuesday, it said that "In terms of section 13(3) of the Broadcasting Act president Ramaphosa designated Khathutshelo Ramukumba as chairperson and Nomvuyiso Batyi as the deputy chairperson of the SABC board".
The statement noted that "The SABC is a vital institution of our constitutional democracy. I trust the newly appointed board members will work hard at ensuring that South Africa continues to benefit from a stable, independent and effective national public broadcaster."
Cyril Ramaphosa was forced to rubberstamp the names on his desk after growing pressure from public broadcasting lobby groups like the SOS Coalition and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) who said they won't stop even if its required to take the president and the delay with the SABC board appointments all the way to South Africa's Constitutional Court.
Besides Khathutshelo Ramukumba and Nomvuyiso Batyi, the people forming part of the new SABC board are Dr Renee Horne, Adv Tseliso Thipanyane, Aifheli Makhwanya, Phathiswa Magopeni, Magdalene Moonsamy, Rearabetsoe Motaung, David Maimela, Dinkwanyane Mohuba, Mpho Tsedu and Palesa Kadi.
The inclusion of the highly respected Phathiswa Magopeni is noteworthy since she is the former head of SABC News who was fired after she revealed shocking allegations of ANC political interference in the SABC News newsroom by former SABC chairman Bongumusa Makhathini and SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe.
The distressed SABC is facing gargantuan challenges - both financial, management, corporate governance and ratings-wise, with the SABC hurtling to yet another financial loss during this financial year projected at R608 million.
The contracts of the top executives like SABC CEO, COO and CFO all are expiring at the end of June and all of these appointments require SABC board approval.
In addition, the SABC which launched its own SABC+ streamer in November, continues to face the relentless onslaught of global streamers like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video exerting their dominance in South Africa while gobbling up subscribers as they fortify their staffing ranks with South Africa's top film and TV executives in their plans to ramp up local content production output.
The broadcaster's desperate top executives have so far tried in vain since late-2022 to implement some financial turnaround strategies for which they have been unable to get board approval for since the SABC has been limping along with any board for over half a year.
