by Thinus Ferreira
South Africa's Constitutional Court has confirmed what multiple lower courts have already ordered: That the famously matricless former SABC boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng must pay back over R11.5 million plus interest amounting to R18 million to the embattled South African public broadcaster which he received as a so-called "success fee" bonus.
Hlaudi Motsoeneng lost his expensive fourth court bid to have the pay-back-the-money order overturned and has finally run out of all legal options.
The SABC, which Hlaudi Motsoeneng helped to destroy further through multiple disastrous decisions as COO and acting CEO, paid him R11.5 million seven years ago in September 2016 as part of a so-called "success fee" over an extremely controversial deal between the broadcaster and the private pay-TV company MultiChoice.
Hlaudi Motsoeneng was fired in 2017 after a SABC disciplinary hearing which found him guilty of misconduct.
Hlaudi Motsoeneng's "success fee" was not approved by the SABC board, with the broadcaster that in fact didn't even have any policy for the paying of any bonus or "success fee" related to transactions or deals with other companies.
The "success fee" was paid on top of Hlaudi Motsoeneng's annual R3.6 million salary, who was appointed at the SABC after he faked a matric certificate for a school grade he never completed.
Hlaudi Motsoeneng went to the Constitutional Court, seeking to appeal the 23 January 2023 decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal which had dismissed his application with costs.
This week South Africa's Constitutional Court flat out refused to hear Hlaudi Motsoeneng's appeal against the previous court orders compelling him to pay back the R11.5 million with interest amounting to over R18 million.
In a short note, the Constitutional Court said "The Constitutional Court has considered the application for condonation and the application for leave to appeal and has concluded that the application for leave to appeal does not engage its jurisdiction".
"Consequently, leave to appeal must be refused with costs and the Court need not decide the application for condonation,” said acting registrar of the Constitutional Court Mpilo Hlongwane.
The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg declared Hlaudi Motsoeneng's "success fee" bonus unlawful in December 2021 and ordered him to pay back the money within seven days.
The Gauteng High Court in December 2021 in its judgment noted that Hlaudi Motsoeneng "was not an innocent bystander in all of this, he set out to obtain a benefit that he was not entitled to, knowing full well that his employment contract did not allow for bonuses".
"The only reasonable inference to be drawn is that he received payment of the success fee in circumstances that he knew, or ought to have known, that he was not entitled to it, this was unlawful."
The Court noted that Hlaudi Motsoeneng as a top executive at the SABC should have been aware that he can't be paid a "success fee" bonus.
The same case was also being investigated by South Africa's Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
"The Special Investigating Unit has already recovered R6 476 515 from his pension benefits," the SIU said on Thursday in a statement.
"The SIU welcomes and sees the constitutional court's decision of 18 September 2024 as a positive step as it clears the way to pursue the outstanding amount from Hlaudi Motsoeneng."
