The SABC appoints the boss of its TV Licence fees division Sylvia Tladi as the South African public broadcaster's next acting chief operating officer.

The South African public broadcaster has appointed Sylvia Tladi, the head of the SABC's TV Licence division as its latest acting chief operating officer (COO).

She replaces Dr Craig van Rooyen who unexpectedly quit as acting COO citing personal reasons and who replaced Chris Maroleng who was fired.

Earlier this week the SABC on Wednesday in parliament, Madoda Mxakwe said that the beleaguered and technically insolvent SABC has a massive problem with SABC TV Licences and that although the SABC's database has 9.6 million SABC TV licence fee payers, only a shockingly low 2.2 million people are still bothering to pay their licence fees, with "455 000 doing it in instalment terms. As you can see the gap is quite huge".

Sylvia Tladi runs the SABC's struggling TV licence fees division since May 2013, with the SABC that out of everybody available Sylvia Tladi "is best suited to act whilst the organisation finalises the process of appointing a permanent chief operating officer".

Sylvia Tladi joined the SABC in 2004 as the manager for business accounts at the SABC TV Licence fees division and became the compliance manager for business and retailer accounts at the division in 2011.

In 2012 Sylvia Tladi was appointed as the acting SABC TV licence division boss and was permanently appointed in the role since May 2013.

Sylvia Tladi has been in charge of managing the entire TV Licence division which has seen multiple ongoing challenges and problems ranging from system issues to the hiring and firing and non-permanent staffers angry over their employment status, and irregularities and allegations of corruption over outsourcing of work to SABC TV licence fees debt collection agencies.

SABC board was split on whether to fire Chris Maroleng as COO as 4 members wanted the axed executive to get a final warning letter - reports.

The new quorate again SABC board was apparently split about whether to fire the now-axed Chris Maroleng as chief operating officer (COO) according to Sunday newspaper reports, with 4 SABC board members who wanted him to stay on and get a final warning letter.

It comes after Chris Maroleng was fired on Monday by the SABC.

Chris Maroleng's tenure as SABC COO lasted just over a year since he was appointed in January 2018 as chief operating officer to replace the fired Hlaudi Motsoeneng who was SABC COO before him.

Earlier this month Chris Maroleng was found guilty on 3 out of 4 charges, including gross negligence and breaching fiduciary duty, following a disciplinary inquiry against him that was started in late-2018.

The SABC also investigated the protection by Chris Maroleng of Marchi Mahlalela, the SABC's former acting SABC Sport boss, who resigned from the SABC following her own disciplinary hearing.

Chris Maroleng used his SABC COO position to try and help Marchi Mahlalela getting hired at the South African Rugby Union (Saru) and going as far as allegedly writing a letter in his official capacity as SABC COO to confirm that Marchi Mahlalela was innocent of any wrongdoing.

Another charge involved appointing Carmen Schneider, a human resources staffer to Chris Maroleng's office to manage his turnaround management programme that he started and called "Sparkle".

The SABC said that Chris Maroleng ignored HR advice and gave Carmen Schneider an allowance of R15 000 to be the Sparkle project leader despite an agreement with the SABC HR boss, Jonathan Thekiso, that there would not be any changes to Schneider's terms of employment, contract and salary.

According to Sunday reports, the decision to fire Chris Maroleng had to be put to a vote after 4 SABC board members didn't want to get rid of him and argued that the right course of action would have been a final warning letter.

Vuyo Mthembu, SABC spokesperson, said "The SABC disputes this gross misrepresentation of what took place at the SABC board meeting".

However, the SABC didn't want to put forth what it the public broadcaster's view took place at the meeting.

"All matters discussed at board meetings are confidential and we will therefore not divulge the details thereof," said Vuyo Mthembu.

"The SABC has a solid and united board that takes decisions in the best interest of the organisation. The SABC remains committed to ensuring sound governance and consequence management, irrespective of person's position within the corporation."

"We are confident the public and all key stakeholders support the SABC in its tough stance on governance and fiduciary failures."

The South African public broadcaster fires Chris Maroleng as SABC COO who plans to appeal his disciplinary and getting fired; says he's 'quite devastated' and his axing marks 'a low-point in my career' as he 'let down so many people who had placed so much trust in me'.

The South African public broadcaster on Tuesday afternoon fired Chris Maroleng as the chief operating officer (COO) of the SABC, with Chris Maroleng who plans to appeal his disciplinary hearing as well as his firing by the SABC board, saying he's "quite devastated"' and that his axing marks "a low-point in my career" as he "let down so many people who had placed so much trust in me".

Chris Maroleng's tenure as SABC COO lasted just over a year since he was appointed in January 2018 as chief operating officer to replace the fired Hlaudi Motsoeneng who was SABC COO before him.

The SABC in a brief statement on Tuesday afternoon said "The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board met on Tuesday, 23 April 2019. After due consideration of the findings and recommendations of a disciplinary process, the board resolved to terminate the contract of employment of its chief operations officer, Chris Maroleng, with immediate effect".

Earlier this month Chris Maroleng was found guilty on 3 out of 4 charges, including gross negligence and breaching fiduciary duty, following a disciplinary inquiry against him that was started in late-2018.

The SABC also investigated the alleged protection of Chris Maroleng of Marchi Mahlalela, the SABC's former acting SABC Sport boss, who resigned from the SABC following her own disciplinary hearing.

Chris Maroleng reportedly used his SABC COO position to try and help Marchi Mahlalela getting hired at the South African Rugby Union (Saru) and going as far as allegedly writing a letter in his official capacity as SABC COO to confirm that Marchi Mahlalela was innocent of any wrongdoing.

Another charge involved appointing Carmen Schneider, a human resources staffer to Chris Maroleng's office to manage his turnaround management programme that he started and called "Sparkle".

The SABC said that Chris Maroleng ignored HR advice and gave Carmen Schneider an allowance of R15 000 to be the Sparkle project leader despite an agreement with the SABC HR boss, Jonathan Thekiso, that there would not be any changes to Schneider's terms of employment, contract and salary.

Chris Maroleng told Ray White on EWN in a radio interview on Tuesday evening that he plans to appeal the finding of the disciplinary committee, and is also considering appealing the decision of the SABC board to fire him.

Chris Maroleng said he feels "quite devastated" and that his firing marks "a low-point in my career".

"Most likely going to appeal this decision to dismiss," Chris Maroleng said.

He also said "it's personally, unfortunate for me to have let down so many people who had placed so much trust in me and my ability to turn around the SABC. For that I deeply regret and I'm sad that I was unable."

"I'm all my action at the SABC I didn't act out of self-interest, I didn't act to enrich myself."

On Tuesday night, Bongumusa Makhathini, SABC board chairperson in another interview, also on EWN, this time with Karima Brown, didn't want to say publicly what the South African public broadcaster charged Chris Maroleng with and what the findings were.

"Basically that becomes part of the details between us and the former COO. I don't think that would be fair of us to put that out in the public domain. Suffice for us to say that there were four charges and he was found guilty on three of the four".

Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) welcomed the firing of Chris Maroleng from the SABC, with MMA director William Bird who told Jacaranda FM that "it sent a positive message about effective and transparent governance".

SABC COO, Chris Maroleng, could be fired after found guilty over charges of negligence, overstepping duties in disciplinary hearing - reports.

The SABC chief operating officer (COO) Chris Maroleng is facing firing after he has been found guilty on three of four charges following a disciplinary hearing.

On Sunday the City Press and Sunday World newspapers reported that Chris Maroleng could be fired after he faced an enquiry and was found guilty over charges of gross negligence and breaching fiduciary duty that could lead to his dismissal from the South African public broadcaster.

So far there's been no statement from the SABC and SABC spokesperson Vuyo Mthembu told City Press that "The SABC will not discuss the details of the disciplinary hearing and has no further comment on this matter at this stage".

According to the City Press report, the SABC also investigated the alleged protection of Chris Maroleng of Marchi Mahlalela, the SABC's former acting SABC Sport boss, who resigned from the SABC following her own disciplinary hearing.

Chris Maroleng reportedly used his SABC COO position to try and help Marchi Mahlalela getting hired at the South African Rugby Union (Saru) and going as far as allegedly writing a letter in his official capacity as SABC COO to confirm that Marchi Mahlalela was innocent of any wrongdoing.

The SABC through SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe then wrote its own letter to Saru - different from Chris Maroleng - stating that the SABC COO does not represent the South African public broadcaster's stance on the matter.

Madoda Mxakwe in his letter wrote to Saru stating, "I would like to place it on record that the SABC distances itself from the contents of the letter dated 2 August 2018 as signed by the SABC COO Chris Maroleng. His letter does not represent the SABC's position on this matter".

Chris Maroleng was reportedly also found guilty of approving a monthly acting allowance of over R15 000 for an employee despite a written decision from the SABC's human resources division to the contrary.

According to the Sunday World newspaper, some of the charges also relate to Chris Maroleng's alleged role in the controversial reappointment of sports presenter Robert Marawa back to the SABC.

According to the reports, the charges against Chris Maroleng constitute grounds for dismissal and the newly quorate SABC board will have to decide if they will fire him as SABC COO over it.

According to City Press quoting insider sources "there have been a string of disagreements between Chris Maroleng and some board members, as well as SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe".

SABC DAY ZERO: Literally crumbling and cracking, SABC now facing Day Zero collapse by March 2019 as it's unable to pay salaries; workers complaining about where the biscuits went.

Fast running out of its last available cash, the SABC is now facing its own "Day Zero": By February 2019 the broadcaster will no longer be able to pay full staff salaries and by March 2019 the SABC will completely collapse and not be able to pay any salaries while workers - facing mass retrenchment amidst drastic cost-cutting measures - are complaining about where the biscuits went that they've always enjoyed.

The SABC board and executives of the commercially insolvent South African public broadcaster appeared before parliament's portfolio committee on Tuesday, telling shocking tales of a dire SABC on the edge of a financial precipice that is literally crumbling away.

SABC restrooms have run out of hand towels that are no longer available, staffers have to appease angry suppliers over the phone and explain why they're not getting paid which wasn't part of their original job description, and a massive chunk of debris recently came falling down at the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters where the building has cracks where the SABC can no longer afford to do basic maintenance.

Chris Maroleng, SABC chief operating officer (COO), told parliament that at the SABC - that the Auditor-General (AG) in September declared a non-going concern - workers are complaining about where their biscuits went, "something they were used to".

Meanwhile the SABC is looking at getting rid of up to a third of its full-time workforce - 891 of its 3 376 workers and half of its freelancers - 1 200 of 2 400 by February 2019 - telling parliament that at the bloated broadcaster up to 4 people are being paid to do the same job.

The SABC told parliament that it urgently needs R3 billion as a government bailout just to continue to pay staff salaries.

"The reality is that without the money being injected into SABC, we are in a dire situation and this SABC will collapse. Come March 2019, it will collapse," Bongumusa Makhathini told parliament.


'March 2019 is our Day Zero.'
In trying to cut back the SABC that has been struggling to pay producers for content, has agreed to paid them less, shifting a massive burden to South Africa's TV production industry now bearing the brunt of the SABC's financial woes.

Mathatha Tsedu, SABC board member told parliament "We have negotiated terms with content suppliers; people who provide the SABC with content like Muvhango, Generations, Uzalo and who produce the content at own expense. They give it to us, we can't even pay them."

"We have negotiated terms, we owe them R20 million a month, but we pay them R5 million. So every month, the accumulation of the debts just keeps increasing. But these producers are using their own money to finance the SABC's operation."

We've negotiated terms with Sentech. Sentech takes us into broadcasting. We provide 60% of Sentech's income. We can't pay them. And when we can't pay them it puts the entire broadcasting industry in jeopardy."

"The same applies to Samro whose music we play on our radio stations, and SuperSport who gives us the PSL games. All those people are not being paid the monies owed to them. We're renegotiating sport rights - all the fiasco around Bafana and SAFA revolves around the fact that we can't pay what SAFA wants us to pay."

"Some days you go into the SABC toilets and there are no hand towels because the cost-cutting have gone that deep."

"We haven't maintained our buildings for a very long time. Last week a huge chunk fell from the reception of the Radio Park building. The people responsible for the maintenance of our buildings have been warning that there are cracks there - something is going to happen. But we don't have the money. We're only dealing with what is broadcast critical," Mathatha Tsedu said.

"If there is a crack up there and it doesn't stop us from going on air, we will not fix it until that rock falls down. And one day, it is going to fall on someone."

Mathatha Tsedu said "now these invoices that we are not honouring are from companies that employ people but from our side we prioritise payment of our staff".

"Our staff every day have to deal with calls from these people who supply us with services, whose companies are going under because we can't pay."

"At every turn I have to say to say to them [SABC staff] 'I apologise', because when we hired them as accountants,it was not one of the key performance indicators (KPIs) that they were going to have with explaining to people why we can't pay. They were supposed to process payments but now we're putting them in a very bad situation."

"At the end of January 2019 we will get to a point where we will be able to pay salaries and a few other things. February 2019 we might not even be able to pay full salaries. March 2019 is our Day Zero."

Madoda Mxakwe, SABC CEO said "we've significantly cut programming and film cost which is our core business. It has not helped us, particularly in terms of attracting audiences".

Chris Maroleng said "investment in programming and film has been reduced by between 30% and 50% which is quite significant".

About cost-cutting at the SABC he said "It's as basic now as reducing the amount of milk, the amount of bottled water, the amount of basic commodities within the business."

"Some of our staff even complain that they don't get biscuits which was one of the things that they used to have," said Chris Maroleng.

With a Bafana blackout on the SABC as negotiations between the public broadcaster and Safa broke down and devolves in nasty mudslinging, SuperSport steps in and says it will broadcast Saturday's Afcon qualifier match to all DStv subscribers.

While the South African Football Association (Safa) and the SABC engage in trashy mudslinging after negotiations failed over the broadcast of upcoming Bafana Bafana Afcon matches resulting in a blackout of South Africa's national football team on the public broadcaster, SuperSport has stepped in saying it will broadcast Saturday's match between South Africa and the Seychelles and will be making it available to all DStv subscribers.

In a statement SuperSport says South Africa's vital Africa Cup of Nations qualifier match again the Seychelles on Saturday will be broadcast live on Saturday on SuperSport, and that in an unprecedented move, MultiChoice and SuperSport will make the match available to all DStv subscribers.

Saturday's match between Bafana Bafana and the Seychelles will be broadcast live on SuperSport 4 (DStv 204) and SuperSport 10 (DStv 210), with kickoff at 15:00. SuperSport says that "scheduling the Soweto match across all DStv packages will ensure that as many football fans as possible view the crucial clash".

SuperSport's announcement comes after the ugly implosion of negotiations, followed by as nasty war of words between Safa and the SABC over the broadcasting rights.


Safa says ...
Safa, that started negotiations with the SABC in October 2017, slammed the South African public broadcaster in a statement for the failure to conclude a broadcasting rights agreement, saying the SABC made a "discourteous offer" regarding what the SABC is willing to pay for the broadcasting rights to international football matches Bafana Bafana is playing in inside South Africa.

"Safa rejected this offer outright, and places on record that the offer is so minuscule that it amounts to an effective no offer," says Safa in a statement.

"It is interesting to note that even the apartheid-run SABC of old made a better offer to the association for their rights in this country. Safa further notes that the SABC recently concluded deals with the English Premier League (EPL) to broadcast British football in this country, and on 25 September announced a deal with Cricket South Africa (CSA) to broadcast the T20 League in Sub-Saharan Africa which will include South Africa."

"Safa has been repeatedly told by SABC management that it is in no position to conclude a contract whilst it is in a financial state of disarray."

"However, it is now patently clear that the SABC actions over the past few weeks in signing deals with EPL and CSA, is calculated towards engineering the financial downfall of Safa, which the association will not stand for," says Safa in its statement.

"It is common cause that there is no other sport in South Africa that draws a larger TV audience attendance than Bafana Bafana - in excess of 4 million viewers regularly."

"It is also regrettable that the nation and the football loving public missed out on a great opportunity to witness Banyana Banyana defend their Cosafa title recently."

"Safa offered the SABC the matches (including the final) at no cost, whilst negotiations were taking place - but the SABC declined," says Safa.

"Safa has written to both the SABC and the broadcasting regulator Icasa and informed the ministry of sport and recreation and the ministry of communications, that it wishes the SABC and Icasa to issue Safa with a letter that will relieve the SABC of its obligations towards sports of national interest - football in particular - which would consequently allow SAFA to conclude an agreement with another broadcaster for the Safa rights in line with the commercial value Safa attributes to such rights."

"It is common cause now that Safa, in good faith, allowed the broadcast of the last Afcon qualifier versus Libya to be broadcast by the SABC, despite there being no contract in place - but on the promise and agreement that a contract would be concluded prior to the next Bafana Bafana Afcon qualifier, being the Seychelles match at FNB Stadium on Saturday, 13 October 13 at 15:00."

"With the SABC showing no meaningful interest in concluding an agreement on terms and conditions that would give respect to the Safa rights, the association regrets to inform the public that all future international football matches involving national teams - the U/23, U/20 and U/17 - as well as regional football championships run by Safa, will not be broadcast on any SABC platforms," Safa says in its statement.

According to Safa, the matches in question, among others are all Bafana Bafana 2019 Afcon qualifiers, home and away; all Bafana Bafana 2022 World Cup qualifiers, home and away; all Bafana Bafana international friendly matches; the annual Nelson Mandela Challenge, involving Bafana Bafana; all Banyana Banyana matches; all U/20 international matches; the ABC Motsepe National Play Off final; the SAB National Championships final; the Sasol League Women's National play-offs final and the U/19 Men's National Championship final.


The SABC says ...
The SABC in a statement says it has "noted the statement by Safa" and that the SABC "made a commercially-viable offer that would enable the SABC to deliver football matches to South African audiences on SABC platforms and this offer was rejected by Safa".

"On the previous contract there were obligations and milestones which the SABC has met, including the payment milestones of that contract, albeit late given the SABC's dire financial situation."

The SABC says "the outstanding Safa obligations due to the SABC from the previous contract are the two remaining 2019 Afcon qualifier matches which are the Bafana Bafana versus Seychelles match on 13 October and the Bafana Bafana versus Nigeria match on 17 November."

"The Seychelles versus Bafana Bafana match scheduled for 16 October will be broadcast by the SABC since these rights do not reside with Safa."

"With reference to Safa allowing the SABC to broadcast the last Afcon qualifier match, Bafana Bafana versus Libya, we contend that the broadcast of the match had nothing to do with a promise of a new agreement but was based on the payment milestone which the SABC has since met from the previous contract."

"The SABC's financial position is a known fact and has been made public by the SABC, despite this, the SABC has ensured that it met all its financial obligations to Safa. The SABC is therefore prepared to broadcast the two remaining 2019 Afcon qualifiers."

"It is unfortunate that the SABC and Safa legal dispute is in the public domain but the SABC remains committed to engaging Safa on fair terms," says the SABC.


War of words as SABC is chased from FNB Stadium
Meanwhile the SABC, its journalists and vehicles have been chased away from Soweto's FNB Stadium.

Chris Maroleng, SABC chief operating officer (COO), said the SABC had already deployed an outside broadcasting (OB) van to the FNB Stadium in Soweto "and did this in good faith, anticipating we would be able to broadcast. However Safa denied us access to the venue and we have returned out equipment to our headquarters".

Safa slammed the SABC and Chris Maroleng's claims, saying "there were no SABC OB trucks at the stadium. There were one or two SABC cars but not OB trucks at the gate that were turned away. Anyway had they arrived, they would have been turned away in any case".

"Safa finds it surprising that there has been talk of good faith when there has been no contact with SAFA by the SABC since the last communication. In any event, there is no contract between Safa and the SABC, so why were trucks allegedly sent to the FNB Stadium when the SABC insists, 'No contract, no broadcast'?"


SABC only offered to pay R10 million
Danny Jordaan, Safa CEO, on Thursday evening in an interview on SABC radio with Robert Marawa, revealed the SABC only offered to pay R10 million for the rights that decreased from an initial R150 million.

"If broadcasting money diminishes from R150 million to R10 million you can see the implications," said Danny Jordaan.

"This is the offer we received from the SABC. The recently expired TV deal was set at R110 million and Safa made a new offer of R200 million."

The SABC then countered by offering to pay just R10 million.

"Rugby gets R2.8 billion over 5 years [R560 million per year], while cricket gets R1.24 billion [R248 million per year] where football must get R50 million per year."

"When the SABC was under apartheid we used to get R37 million, so it's just unthinkable," said Danny Jordaan. "So now we have to approach government to say release us from this agreement as we have offers from outside the country who want to pay us in dollars."

SABC Sport exec Marcia Mahlalela abruptly resigns rather than face investigation as SABC COO Chris Maroleng is charged over Robert Marawa's R5.5 million contract to return to the Metro FM.

The former SABC Sport executive Marcia Mahlalela has abruptly resigned from the South African public broadcaster rather than face investigation, as Chris Maroleng, the new SABC chief operating officer (COO) has been charged over the SuperSport and SABC on-air talent Robert Marawa's R5.5 million contract to return to the Metro FM.

Sunday World first reported that Marcia Mahlalela resigned from the SABC and that Chris Maroleng is facing charges over their reappointment of Robert Marawa at a multi-million dollar salary at the SABC.

When Marcia Mahlalela were charged, she abruptly resigned from the South African public broadcaster with immediate effect.

Marcia Mahlalela was charged with allegedly demoted her junior for refusing to go along with writing a memorandum to motivate for Robert Marawa's reappointment, that she allegedly signed a contract with Robert Marawa without checking whether the SABC had money for the R5.5 million contract, and for allegedly neglecting her fiduciary duties over the exorbitant price of the 3-year deal.

Chris Maroleng has allegedly been charged with allegedly interfering with Robert Marawa's appointment and allegedly failing to declare his prior personal friendship with Robert Marawa.

The Inkatha Freedom Party protests outside the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters as leaders meet with SABC execs; claims lack of coverage on South Africa's public broadcaster.

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) on Wednesday held a public protest outside the South African public broadcaster's headquarters in Auckland Park as IFP leaders met with the broadcaster's executives inside while angry IFP members picketed outside claiming a lack of coverage about the political party on the SABC.

Hundreds of IFP supporters picketed in front of the SABC about alleged unfair coverage and a lack of IFP coverage while Mangosuthu Buthelezi, IFP president together with an IFP delegation, met with the SABC's newly-appointed CEO, Madoda Mxakwe; chief operating officer (COO) Chris Maroleng, and head of news and current affairs, Phathiswa Magopeni.

This follows on our march in 2013 and subsequent meetings with former COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng with regards to impartial, independent and fair news coverage for the party.
As the public broadcaster plays a pivotal role in our democracy, the IFP believes that it is important ahead of the 2019 National and Provincial Election that the SABC be reminded and stay mindful of their mandate in serving the public in the best possible way.

Sibusiso Phakathi, IFP Gauteng spokesperson said "We are not being covered as an organisation. We don't know whether it's an agreement that has been taken. IFP is not being televised actually, even whatever good that we are doing. We deserve publicity like other political organisations, because we are all members of the community and we are all paying our SABC licences".

Alco Ngobese, IFP provincial secretary, said the SABC is biased in its SABC News coverage towards the IFP: "We had a big event on 16 June and they did not cover it. We feel like we are treated as though we are not citizens of the country, but we also pay taxes".

Mangosuthu Buthelezi, told the media outside the SABC that "The SABC some time ago requested a meeting with us. There are some issues that we also wanted to discuss with them, and we felt that we should come and talk to them. We are hoping that after this, there will be cordial and normal relationships because we do not expect the public broadcaster to take sides with any political party".

"We are still active like any other party, and we need to have a normal relationship with them. We as stakeholders are able to be given our fair time of coverage through the channels whether it's radio or TV".

Mangosuthu Buthelezi didn't want to tell the media what was discussed with SABC executives but said "we did talk about the past and we mentioned our relationship with them. They understood our grievances and the issues that we raised and we hope that from now they'll have the normal relationship with us that they have with other parties. We didn't come for special treatment".

The IFP in a statement said "As the public broadcaster plays a pivotal role in our democracy, the IFP believes that it is important ahead of the 2019 national and provincial election that the SABC be reminded and stay mindful of their mandate in serving the public in the best possible way".

The SABC didn't issue a statement after the meeting of SABC executives with the IFP and the protest outside the public broadcaster.

MultiChoice to SABC: Hands off our DStv subscriber information, says SABC TV Licence an old, outdated regulation.

MultiChoice is adamant that the South African public broadcaster will never get its hands on the DStv subscriber information of the millions of the Naspers pay-TV operator's customers - and neither will MultiChoice ever tack on the annual SABC TV Licence fee as another line item on subscribers' monthly bills to collect this money on behalf of the SABC.

The SABC's TV Licence fees collection department has been a shambles the past few years. Last month 26 staffers got fired after showing up for work this year during a period of an unprotected "go-slow" during which they did nothing.

The SABC board told parliament last week that due to the go-slow that started on 12 February, SABC Licence fee call centre staffers would "show up for work but did not answer incoming calls and closed off their phone lines" so that the public couldn't get through with billing and other queries or issues about payments.

Communications minister Nomvula Mokonyane revealed that the SABC is owed a staggering more than R25 billion (R25 588 801 443)  in outstanding SABC TV Licence fees over the past three years.

Less than a third of South African TV households pay their SABC TV licence. The SABC has just over 9 million TV licence holders of which only 2.6 million have paid in full by April 2017 and wrote off a massive R4.5 billion due to "invalid" accounts in the 2016/2017 financial year.

On Monday night a caller, Lorraine on SAfm, told Chris Maroleng, SABC COO, that "there's a lot of confusion under a lot of people about who collect TV Licence payments for the SABC out there. Is it the SABC itself or third-parties? People have been continually harassed by debt collectors."

Twice in the past the SABC in parliament over the past decade - first in July 2009 and then in May 2017 - made suggestions that companies like MultiChoice, M-Net and others should be compelled to collect the SABC's TV Licence fee on the public broadcaster's behalf, and that the SABC wants MultiChoice to share its DStv subscriber information.

The former acting SABC CEO, James Aguma, now gone under a cloud, last year shocked parliament when he said the SABC wants the Broadcasting Act changed so that the TV Licence fee is expanded to include more viewing devices like computers, cellphones and tablets, and that DStv should collect SABC TV licence fees on behalf of the SABC. 

Recently the SABC's latest board told parliament that it is once again investigating alternative new ways around the collection of SABC TV Licence revenue.

In an interview with Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice South Africa CEO, TVwithThinus asked him to clarify MultiChoice's stance on whether it will give the SABC access to DStv subsriber information, or bill subscribers for SABC TV Licence fees and pay that over to the public broadcaster.

"No. Let me confirm, the law is very clear on information that can be shared and cannot be shared, and that information cannot be shared with anybody without the consent of the subscriber directly."

"But let me just touch on TV Licence: TV Licence is an old regulation that was done years back when people only consumed content through a TV and therefore you used a TV Licence to be able to support the public broadcasting mandate."

"What we have seen all over the world is that they recognise that people no longer use a TV set to view content and therefore it's irrelevant in this day and time. What many countries have tried to do is to link it either as a public service mandate - that the population of a country need to recognise that the public broadcaster is providing a good service in terms of its public mandate."

"And they've proposed things like paying through tax - so all the tax payers go through a staggered way of payment, where the highest earners pay a little bit more than those that earn less."

"Other countries have used the electricity bill to be able to get money that goes to assist in serving the public mandate."

"Our view is that that discussion is no longer relevant in this day and time. What we shall be discussing is how do we assist the public broadcaster in fulfilling its mandate because consumption has moved from TV to other means of getting access to content," said Calvo Mawela.

"Therefore it's no longer about the means of getting the content, it's about how do we assist the SABC to fulfill its public mandate".

SABC to establish an internal ombudsman for SABC News complaints.

The SABC will introduce an internal ombudsman for SABC News complaints from the public and establish a ring-fenced office to deal with queries and issues regarding SABC News editorial and coverage, the South African public broadcaster announced on Monday night.

Chris Maroleng, SABC COO, in an interview with Ashraf Garda on SAfm on Monday night, said "we, through the reform and transformation of the newsroom will also introduce what we are describing as an internal ombud who will allow the public to complain".

The surprising move - not prompted through any external pressure on the SABC - is the latest in a sudden string of positive self-correcting changes at the SABC.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation in the past few weeks announced an inquiry into undue influence on SABC News and its editorial processes, an inquiry into allegations of sexual harassment and sexual abuse inside the SABC, as well as a rebranding of the SABC News service on television and radio.

The SABC's internal ombudsman will function independently, and in addition to the existing Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) whose Broadcasting Code of Conduct the SABC already subscribes to.

The SABC is currently busy with a long-overdue review of the public broadcaster's editorial policy that started in July 2017, trying to bring it up to date since it was last reviewed 14 years ago in 2004.


SAfm changed explained
About the changes at SAfm and listeners who are unhappy with the news and current affairs changes, Chris Maroleng said the anger has to do with how people have become "accustomed to consuming their news and current affairs. The first thing is that we were over-delivering on SAfm on news and current affairs".

"What we were doing is we were producing 6 hours of news and current affairs and the problem with news and current affairs apart from the crucial importance, the way in which we packaged it, is it could not perform commercially to the extent that it supported the broadcast network which is quite extensive for SAfm."

"It was costing us several million. The other thing that we did, we needed to migrate the way that news and current affairs was consumed to a format that was more accustomed to the way that some of our competitors - and more importantly, the global trend of global news consumption - has changed."

"So we developed opportunities around talk radio format content, mixed in with our current affairs obligation, without dropping the mandated, regulatory provision for that current affairs content. So the value judgment we had to make, is how do we develop news content and a news platform that develops conversation and that allows debate in a vibrant, independent way, without putting too much of a burden on the commercial imperative."


Sakina Kamwendo: We should have informed public better
About the shocking removal of Sakina Kamwendo from SAfm's morning slot that saw SAfm producers abruptly censor her and yank her off air during her last show, leaving people listening to music to fill dead air, Chris Maroleng said that the SABC censorship and lack of communication "is a personal regret of mine".

"In our haste to try and fix it and to try and put right things that needed to be made better within the SABC we need to bring along people. We need to understand that it is ultimately people who come from  a very difficult period of abuse, of abuse of power, of unfair decisions being made which were not necessarily in the interest of the SABC."

He said the censorship of Sakina Kamwendo and her abrupt removal "was not an intention to shut [her] down". "We could have done much better in ensuring that the way in which we communicated the rationale of the change, could have been done much better," said Chris Maroleng.

"What we did wrong - I think what we should have done better is also inform our public a bit better," he said.

The SABC that launched an internal investigation into what happened on the day has refused to make the findings public.

The SABC to roll out a new on-air look and retitled programming strands for SABC News, together with a new untranslated payoff line, Sakina Kamwendo added to Morning Live as new co-anchor.

The SABC will on Monday 4 June roll out a new on-air look and brand imaging for SABC News - complete with a new non-English, untranslated payoff line to deliberately spur debate - as the public broadcaster rebrands its damaged news service that saw its reputation, credibility and trust severely tarnished the past three years.

On Monday morning SABC News will rebrand its on-air look across its SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 TV channels as well as its SABC News (DStv 404) channel carried on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform. The SABC News offering will also look different online, as well as on the SABC's radio stations.

Sakina Kamwendo is also being added as new co-anchor to Morning Live on SABC2.

The SABC says the new on-air look, is to present "a localised and yet globally apt look and feel" as a brand "whose editorial identity is defined by social consciousness".

The SABC is still busy updating its editorial policy as the embattled public broadcaster is looking to restore credibility luster to its SABC News brand. SABC News suffered massive damage the past three years during the so-called "reign of terror" of the now fired former chief-operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng and so-called "Hlaudi enforcers".

Hlaudi Motsoeneng abruptly instituted a draconian SABC News censorship policy ordering that no scenes of public destruction of property during protests be shown on SABC television news, while he and broadcaster henchmen harassed and fired several journalists, executives and anchors - eight of which banded together in defiance and became known as the "SABC8".

Meanwhile SABC journalists complained of political interference, victimisation, while SABC News was drained through being responsible for broadcasting an ongoing series of The New Age Breakfast Briefings on SABC2 costing the SABC millions while sponsorship money went into the pockets of the now controversial Gupta family.

While multiple SABC News reporters, journalists and other SABC executives resigned, the broadcasting regulator, Icasa, eventually declared the SABC News censorship decree illegal, while the labour court ordered Motsoeneng's firing of the journalists illegal and that they be reinstated.

Chris Maroleng was appointed as the SABC's permanent new COO from February, with Phathiswa Magopeni who was appointed as the SABC's new head of news and current affairs in March.

From Monday the SABC's flagship morning show, Morning Live with Leanne Manas, and done in-house, will be transformed with what the SABC calls "a pacey format that sets the tone for the news day".

It comes shortly after e.tv. dumped its Morning Edition show after a decade, fired all the presenters, and outsourced its morning slot to Cheeky Media as an outside production company now doing a new show, The Morning Show, for e.tv.

The SABC says Morning Live "will deliver a unique perspective on general news', market issues, politics, sports news, and real time traffic reports" as the overhauled show competes with sister-channel SABC3's Expresso, as well as e.tv's new morning offering.

Other programming changes on the SABC News channel include The Agenda replacing the Newsroom programming strand. On Point will be replacing The Midday Report. The new SA Today will follow On Point and will give audiences a window to issues affecting South Africans.

The Prime Time show on SABC News is being rebranded as The Full View from Monday, followed by the new The Globe, focusing on international news stories.

The SABC will also be overhauling the weekend offering from July. On radio SABC News will introduce a new "distinct signature tune for news bulletins".


'Going back to basics - back to what we exist to do'
"It's not even rebranding. It's going back to basics - going back to what we exist to do as SABC News," says Phathiswa Magopeni.

"We know what happened at the SABC in the recent past. The reality is our brand reputation is in trouble. And the first thing that we're trying to fix is to get the public to trust what we do; as credible, and to restore the integrity of SABC News. It is also try and regain legitimacy with out peers in the industry."

"We have to make sure that South Africans get the information they require which is quality and credible information," said Phathiswa Magopeni.

"In what you're going to see on Monday, we're going to go to the public and say we are the news service that you deserve. You're going to see a very robust newsroom to start with - where people are allowed to speak out courageously about the things they see that are a deviation from our public mandate."

"We're going to allow a space where, even the producer sitting on the desk is able to say 'This is not in line with what we are here for'. So we're going to allow that kind of environment that people can speak out without fear of of victimisation, and we're going to allow constructive dissent."

Phathiswa Magopeni said SABC News is "going to the periphery of society - and making visible the people that you hardly see in our stories, the South Africans that we hardly talk about, and making sure that their issues are covered, and giving voice to those people that we hardly cover."


Rebranding 'deliberately incomplete' to spark conversation
In the rebranding of SABC News, Phathiswa Magopeni says "there are elements that we have left deliberately incomplete".

"We are going to get our listeners, our viewers and the people who consume our news online to suggest how these things should be completed. It's an engagement process."

"On a very serious note the payoff line is going to be left untranslated. What we're trying to do with that is, when we ask people for suggestions or how to translate it, they are going to be forced to get to understand what it means - and why it's got to be said in a different way than your regular way of translating it."

"We want them to interrogate why it got to be translated differently, and we want them to talk to the fact that it can't be seen as this, it has to be seen as that," said Phathiswa Magopeni.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 18 April 2018.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ MUST LISTEN: Can the SABC be restored to its former glory?
Listen to the 42 minute interview on Radio 702 of Eusebius McKaiser with Chris Maroleng, SABC COO. The audio is also available here.


■ The BBC's children's channel CBeebies now helps to lull kids to sleep with pastoral programming and scenic daydreams.

■ As Netflix goes global, can it avoid regional politics?

■ John Oliver bought Russell Crowe's jockstrap.

■ Ukrainian TV presenter Olga Freymut at Novyi Kanal tells women to be silent about their feelings.

■ Alcohol and drugs abuser Ant McPartlin of Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV Choice (DStv 123) slapped with biggest drunk driving fine in Britain's history.

■ The zombie drama series The Walking Dead on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201) is starting to go down fast - since its peak in 2015 it has lost half (50%) of its viewership in both demo and total viewers as it keeps losing popularity.

■ Richard Blystone, who for years was a familiar face on CNN International (DStv 401) as a correspondent, has died at the age of 81.


■ MUST READ: What a well-done article: 25 years of the "special we're going to Disney World" episode. And why they're happening less frequently now on American television.

SABC CENSORSHIP. Public broadcaster's SAfm execs abruptly censor presenter Sakina Kamwendo and pull her off the air halfway through her final morning show.

In the latest shocking recurrence of brutal censorship at the South African public broadcaster, executives at the SABC's SAfm radio station on Friday morning abruptly pulled the brilliant presenter Sakina Kamwendo off the air halfway through presenting her final The Forum @ 8 morning show, once again leaving South Africans asking why they should bother to pay their SABC TV licences to an organisation that tramples on freedom of speech as enshrined by the South African constitution.

The latest censorship scandal at the SABC saw SAfm execs pull the plug on Sakina Kamwendo halfway through her show at 08:30, awkwardly playing just music for half an hour with no explanation to viewers as to what was going on as SABC management shut her down.

In her final morning show, Sakina Kamwendo told SAfm listeners that she was kept in the dark about what her future would be at SAfm when her freelance contract ended. She also spoke about how difficult it's been for SABC staffers who are severely demoralised.

SABC execs didn't want that talk on the public broadcaster and decided to censor the show and immediately pulled Sakina Kamwendo off the air, making things worse as viewers started blasting the SABC and SAfm for removing her without the chance to say goodbye.

The Right to Know Campaign (R2K Campaign) said "The censorship of Sakina Kamwendo is a throwback to the era of Hlaudism. A clear reminder that South Africans must still fight to free the SABC of censorship".

The South African Editors' Forum (Sanef) in a statement slammed the SABC over its latest censorship incident, saying "this incident with Sakina Kamwendo was extremely poorly handled and smacks of censorship" and that Sakina Kamwendo should have been given the space to explain to her listeners what had transpired with her show and with the termination of her contract as the show's presenter.

"Limiting Sakina Kamwendo's freedom of speech and expression in this blatant manner is a serious issue and Sanef would not want to see a return to the SABC’s days of censorship."

"The media industry should be supporting all women in this sector – and especially highly competent, courageous black women such as Sakina Kamwendo. We need to ensure the diversity of voices in the industry. Sanef will be engaging the SABC on the matter."

The SABC's chief operating officer, Chris Maroleng, who was blasted on social media on Friday and Saturday, said its not SABC top management who took the decision to censor Sakina Kamwendo and he blamed SAfm executives for the disgraceful act.

In response to a media enquiry from TVwithThinus, the SABC said that its "executive management has noted with concern the incident that occured on the programme, The Forum@8 on SAfm" and that the SABC's executive management "has requested a full report on the incident and will engage with all involved to get the facts on what really happened and why".

The SABC said it's committed to "deal with this matter in a fair and transparent manner in the interest of the SABC and the public of South Africa".

Social media was flooded with support for Sakina Kamwendo and a non-stop barrage of criticism for the SABC and SAfm over its inept and shocking censorship and bad, amateur and unprofessional handling of the situation.

Veteran TV and radio presenter Redi Tlhabi said "I've seen abusive, toxic, incompetent anchors being treated better than this. Whose ego had to be accommodated at Sakina's expense? Not even a dignified exit after 10 years' service? Pulled off air in middle of show? Never heard of it."

Veteran radio presenter Jenny Crwys-Williams said "the cretins who pulled you off air are the ones looking stupid, they are the ones contemptuous of their audience and they are the ones who need to be sent to a radio gulag to learn what radio is about".

Listener Oageng Tidikwe said "I'm a villager based in the rural part of the Northwest province and I regularly pay my TV licence. Is it that difficult to announce SAfm's new line-up? I can't say I'll listen on the radio because you're likely to play music like you unexpectedly did on Sakina's show."

Listener Neo Nala said "for SAfm to kick her off midair was not just disrespectful to the listeners but immensely disrespectful to her".

"Spent 40 years in radio. Ran 5FM and Good Hope FM. I did strategy for all 18 SABC stations, including SAfm. I've never seen such a shocking decision," said another listener.

Listener WaMphuthi said "the way the SABC and SAfm treated Sakina this morning was disrespectful. There is a way you manage people's exit and what happened this morning is not one of them. Hope Chris Maroleng and team will enlighten us as listeners and be big enough to explain this morning".

Listener Ken Bonant said "I thought Hlaudi Motsoeneng was bad, but this new authoritarian dictatorship at the SABC is astonishing. And then to go and censor the free speech of Sakina Kamwendo's SAfm last show and pull it halfway ... abominable!"

Tshegs said "I thought there'd be a farewell speech from Sakina before the 09:00 news but we were instead left listening to music, which I thought was odd. The SABC must leave Hlaudi tendencies in the past."

Listener Ntobeko Khuluse said "Wow! The more things change at the SABC the more they remain the same. Sakina Kamwendo was not given an opportunity to say her goodbyes on SAfm because the management didn't like what she and listeners were saying, so disappointing. Change, what change Chris Maroleng?"

Listener Aziel Luka Khaile said "Hi ausi, I suspect you've been unceremoniously removed from the studio, they played music non-stop until 09:00. I share your pain as we are equally devastated by your removal as the AMLive host".

Last week on her show, the COPE political party's spokesperson Dennis Bloem called in and said "That's the reason why these people, Chris Maroleng and them, want to remove you from SAfm because these people don't want us to hear such things".

"You are too open, too bold, to expose these types of things. If they are going to remove you and other people, they must know that we will fight. We fought Hlaudi Motsoeneng and now Hlaudi's gone. He will also be gone. We want an open and transparent SABC, not an SABC who's hiding things. You are doing an excellent job for 6 years. I have never listened to SAfm, especially The Forum@8. Now they want to remove you to bring in stooges of them."

BREAKING. SABC appoints Phathiswa Magopeni as the South African public broadcaster's new boss of news and current affairs.

The SABC has appointed Phathiswa Magopeni, currently the business and economics editor and head of terrestrial news services at eNCA (DStv 403), as the South African public broadcaster's new boss of news and current affairs.

Phathiswa Magopeni will start at the SABC on 1 March. eNCA's Mapi Mhlangu, managing director and editor-in-chief at eNCA was also approached by the SABC for the same position at the public broadcaster.

Phathiswa Magopeni replaces the disgraced Simon Tebele who was a belligerent Hlaudi Motsoeneng sycophant and who was found liable for the legal costs for the wrongful firing of the so-called "SABC 8" journalists together with the controversial and famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

Phathiswa Magopeni has an impressive CV and boasts an MBA, a honours degree, an MPhil in education, an Integrated Marketing Communications diploma and is currently working on a doctoral proposal for a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree with the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GBIS).

Phathiswa Magopeni was previously at the SABC as a desk producer.

Phathiswa Magopeni's career in journalism began in 1998 when she joined the SABC in in Cape Town. She then jumped to e.tv's eNews in 2001 and returned to the SABC in 2005. In 2008 she rejoined eNews when the eNews Channel was launched (now called eNCA) in 2008.

She worked as a senior desk producer, output editor, eNews Prime Time editor and then became head of terrestrial news services. In 2013 she conceptualised and coordinated the launch of e.tv's Zulu news offering that has since been moved to Platco Digital's OpenView HD free-to-air satellite service..

 “South Africa’s public broadcaster has always played an indispensable role in the democratic order of the country, but it has also always had a special place in my own life," says Phathiswa Magopeni in a statement about her appointment.

"My first job in broadcasting was with the SABC. I learnt a lot there, and have learnt much in the industry since. Hopefully all that can be of use because this is for me a welcome return to where it all began. I am humbled by the trust shown in me, and look forward to being part of an institution which is crucial to providing independent news and information to South Africa’s citizenry".

The SABC in a statement says "This appointment is in line with the corporation’s continuous commitment to ensure that all group executive vacancies are filled in order to achieve sound governance in all the SABC’s business units. It also affirms our commitment to attract and retain the best skills to address the evolving broadcasting environment enabled by technology."

Chris Maroleng, the SABC's chief operations officer (COO), says "As a public broadcaster we recognise the pivotal role played by news and information in human, social and economic growth and development".

"We therefore saw it fit to appoint Phathiswa Magopeni as she has the expertise in the broadcasting industry and we believe that her appointment will further strengthen our position as a credible and reliable news and information provider in the country as we approach the national general elections in 2019."

"We welcome Phathiswa Magopeni back to the SABC where she first cut her teeth in the broadcasting arena. We urge all staff members to welcome and support her in her role as the new group executive for news and current affairs division."

SABC officially appoints Chris Maroleng as new, permanent chief operating officer (COO) of the SABC from February.

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."

Communications Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane blocks the appointment of Chris Maroleng as SABC's new chief operating officer because the ANC didn't know - report

South Africa's minister of communications, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, has reportedly blocked the appointment of Chris Maroleng as the new permanent chief operating officer (COO) of the embattled South African public broadcaster because she wasn't told beforehand and because the ANC political party didn't know.

The SABC board now acting more independently when it comes to the making of top executive appointments at the SABC, told Chris Maroleng they want him as the SABC's new COO to replace the controversial and destructive Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

Chris Maroleng, formerly an eNCA (DStv 403) TV news anchor, has already resigned from the telecommunications company MTN where he was MTN's group executive for corporate affairs until the end of December 2017. 

The SABC and the SABC board wants Chris Maroleng to start as new SABC COO from 1 February 2018.

On Sunday the City Press newspaper reported that Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane refuses to accept the appointment of Chris Maroleng as SABC COO.

Meanwhile leadership of the ruling ANC political party in South Africa are reportedly upset that they were out of the loop regarding the appointment and not knowing beforehand that Chris Maroleng was to be appointed as SABC COO.

Apparently ABC leaders became used to "be the first to know about key appointments in the SABC" - something that is suddenly no longer happening. 

On Monday Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane will reportedly have to appear before the ANC's top 6 officials to explain what is going on and why the ANC didn't know sooner.

The ANC political party is reportedly "concerned that some of those who made it onto the new SABC board were aligned with organisations seen to be opposed to the ANC".

Minister of communications Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane doesn't know that the SABC plans to appoint Chris Maroleng as new chief operating officer.

South Africa's minister of communications Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane was unaware that the South African public broadcaster is set to appoint Chris Maroleng as the SABC's new chief operating officer (COO) - indicating that the SABC is apparently no longer looping the minister of communications in regarding top executive appointments.

Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said she was clueless about Chris Maroleng becoming the new SABC COO who will be replacing the controversial and famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng, although SABC management and board sources said Chris Maroleng's official appointment is being finalised.

Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said in a terse statement that she has “no knowledge of any official appointment”.

“The minister of communications has noted the media reports about the appointment of a chief operating officer at the SABC,” said Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane in a statement.

All appointments of the chief operating officer, CEO and chief financial officer (CFO) of state-owned entities are done through cabinet processes and therefore the announcements of the outcome are made by cabinet.”

“It is the minister’s responsibility to present any appointment of executives of the SOEs under the department of communications through cabinet processes. To this end, the minister has no knowledge of any official appointment of a COO of SABC.”

That the SABC is planning on appointing Chris Maroleng as COO without the knowledge of the minister of communications signals that the SABC is following the court decision in late-2017 affirming the SABC board's right to make all appointments of staff - especially of its top executives - without the prior approval or interference of the minister of communications.

Although the minister of communications is appealing the ruling, the communications minister has agreed to abide by the affirmation of the SABC's independent appointments process until the appeal can be heard in court.

The public pressure group, SOS Coalition, in a statement says it "notes with concern" the minister of communication's "statement that alleges that the SABC’s CEO, COO and CFO appointments are to be made by government through cabinet processes".

"The SABC is not an ordinary SOE, this fact was highlighted in recent court rulings."

Chris Maroleng to become the SABC's new permanent chief operating officer (COO), replacing Hlaudi Motsoeneng - sources.

Chris Maroleng is to become the SABC's new permanent chief operating officer (COO) replacing the controversial and famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

SABC insiders, including SABC management and SABC board sources told TVwithThinus that the former Africa editor at eMedia Investments' TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) will be appointed as the SABC's new COO.

Chris Maroleng was an eNCA anchor and Africa editor until he left eNCA in July 2014.

At eNCA Chris Maroleng led the team which started eNews Africa in 2009 and built up the channel's Africa division, which included the setting up of news bureaux in Nairobi and Lagos, and was the anchor of the weekly show Africa 360 that was abruptly cancelled in April 2015.

Chris Maroleng left eNCA when eNCA started to gut its Africa division and downsized its news staff and operations as it dramatically slashed budgets and Africa coverage - something that eNCA hasn't recovered from three and a half years later.

Chris Maroleng then became MTN's group executive for corporate affairs until the end of December 2017.

Chris Maroleng who has a master’s degree in international relations, as well as a honours and BA degree in political studies and law from the University of Cape Town, is most famous with the South African public for his "don't touch me on my studio" altercation on live TV in April 2010.

Pandemonium ensued in the eNCA studio during Chris Maroleng's Africa 360 show, where he intervened and protected the political analyst Lebohang Pheko when the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) secretary general Andre Visagie went ballistic on air.

Sources tell TVwithThinus that Chris Maroleng will become the SABC's new permanent COO from February 2017, a position that's been vacant for months and that has been filled by Bessie Tugwana, a so-called "Hlaudi enforcer", who has been appointed and who has been serving in the role the past few months in an acting capacity.

While Hlaudi Motsoeneng was acting COO and permanent COO, the famously matricless executive plunged the SABC into a myriad of crises.

That ranged from financial to bad governance issues, as he made wrong and debilitating decisions that heaped not just negative headlines and scorn on the SABC but also negatively affected the broadcaster's staff morale, liquidity and operating bank balance, and viewership and listenership ratings.

BREAKING. Chris Maroleng exiting eNCA as the second high-ranking on-air talent leaving the South African TV news channel after 6 years.

Chris Maroleng is exiting eNCA (DStv 403) as the second high-ranking on-air talent who has been with the 24-hour TV news channel for six years and who is now leaving.

Following eNCA's chief meteorologist Derek van Dam who is leaving eNCA after six years is Chris Maroleng, eNCA's Africa editor, whose last day with eNCA will be on 12 July.

Chris Maroleng is leaving for the corporate world.

He led the team which started eNews Africa in 2009 and has built up the channel's Africa division, which included the setting up of news bureaux in Nairobi and Lagos, and was the anchor of the weekly show Africa 360.

"eNCA can confirm that Chris Maroleng has resigned," says Ben Said, eNCA group news editor.

"The good work done by Chris and his team will continue. eNCA remains committed to bringing credible and balanced news from around the African continent. He will be greatly missed for his knowledge and expertise. eNCA wish him well in his new endeavour".

BREAKING. eNCA has a special Africa edition from today, daily for Sky viewers in the United Kingdom first; repeated for SA and Africa.

You're reading it here first. 

eNCA (DStv 403) will from today have a very special daily pan-African news broadcast for Sky pay-TV subscribers on channel 518 pulled together by eNCA Africa editor Chris Maroleng and his team, says Patrick Conroy, the group head of news at the eNCA.

"Sky subscribers will see it their time from 21:00 to 23:30. That will be repeated later. South African and African viewers will still get to see that same content as well here from 00:00 to 06:00," says Patrick Conroy.

"But Sky viewers get that first because we want to see if we can grow the appetite for not just South African news, but from the rest of the African content as well," says Patrick Conroy.

"Often Africa is talked about and covered in the form of stereotypes," says Chris Maroleng. "These stereotypes present Africa as a continent pervaded by doom and gloom. We believe that Africa is more than that. What we have seen in the midst of this global economic recession are countries who strongly perform in terms of GDP."

Chris Maroleng says that the Africa edition on eNCA provides an opportunity to show another side of Africa during primetime to viewers in the United Kingdom. "That is why I'm excited. That is why my team is excited about the opportunity for us to go out there and not to just begin representing South Africa; but Africa."

"This is a pivotal moment for us at eNCA and this opportunity - thanks to the visionary leadership of Patrick Conroy - for us to bring this platform together to tell the African story."

The eNCA has bureaus in Lagos, Nigeria and Nairobi, Kenia led by Robyn Kriel. "We're in the process of developing a stringer network to gather news and feed that news to us," says Chris Maroleng.

"We as South Africans suffer from a sense of separation from Africa and ourselves. Our goal at the eNCA is not only to close and restate the fact that South Africa is part of Africa, but that we as South Africans are happy to be a part of Africa," says Chris Maroleng.