Democratic Alliance reveals explosive transcript of 'clandestine' SABC meeting where then MultiChoice CEO Imtiaz Patel allegedly says DStv would pay SABC to support change to the government's digital TV in favour of MultiChoice.

The Democratic Alliance's member of parliament Phumzile Van Damme has revealed an explosive transcript of what it calls a "clandestine" SABC meeting on 6 June 2013 - suggesting that the pay-TV operator MultiChoice sought to pay the SABC R100 million for its 24-hour SABC News (DStv 404) channel in exchange for the SABC's influence to change South Africa's digital terrestrial TV process in favour of MultiChoice.

Phumzile Van Damme says the minutes form part of hundreds of documents provided by the SABC in December 2016 to the ad hoc committee on the SABC inquiry.

According to the DA, the transcript of the SABC meeting support allegations in media reports last week that MultiChoice paid the controversial Gupta family millions of rand for its highly-criticised ANN7 (DStv 405) channel on DStv, in exchange for similar influence over the government's position on set-top boxes (STBs).

The release of the meeting's transcript awkwardly comes on the day that Naspers, MultiChoice's parent company, is releasing its interim results, with Naspers chairperson Koos Bekker who has not yet come out publicly to announce any possible investigation by Naspers into the flurry of allegations.

MultiChoice is the latest company to be caught up in the messy dealings of the now-notorious Gupta family embroiled in allegations of State Capture in South Africa.

According to the DA political party, the SABC minutes reveal a "clandestine" meeting attended by the former SABC board members and executives, including the nowdisgraced Ellen Tshabalala, the controversial and shamed Hlaudi Motsoeneng, Lulama Mokhobo who quit as SABC CEO, and Jimi Matthews who eventually quit as acting SABC CEO, with the then CEO of MultiChoice, Imtiaz Patel.

Imtiaz Patel is at pains during the meeting to explain that MultiChoice doesn't ordinarily pay TV stations for their news channels to be carried on DStv, but that he would be able to convice the MultiChoice board to pay for the SABC's SABC News channel, if a set of "deal breaker conditions" in MultiChoice's favour were met.

During the meeting Imtiaz Patel tells the SABC:

“We would not normally pay for a news channel. Okay. We don’t. There’s a unique relationship with e.tv that everybody espouses etc. It’s got unique conditions. They’re supposed to supply us with many more channels and it’s quite tricky at this point in time. But, besides that we don’t pay for any other news channel, anyway, Okay.”

Imtiaz Patel goes on to say:

“…we need to justify to our Board to say why would we pay you R100 million a year which is a lot of money. Okay. It’s after tax money. To make R100m net you have to make R150m or R200m, R300m in turnover. We are looking for the excuse and the excuse for us is to be able to justify to our Board that you are giving us something in return. 

What are you giving us in return for the R100m? We’re saying you giving us a news channel, you’re giving us a general entertainment channel from your archives, your old, you know. We are less focused on the core elements of it being new content. And we’ve been sort of quite open about it with Lulama, saying even if it’s old stock. 

And thirdly, we are saying we also need to justify this problem of conditional access [unencrypted set-top boxes] is a big problem. And in order to justify that we’re saying in addition to that, your additional channels will be available on our platform.”

Imtiaz Patel also says:

So, in addition to the R100m in cash, you will be getting a lot of advertising revenue, probably the equivalent, even more, I don’t know, I don’t know the details, I don’t know to what extent, you know, given that kind of base, how much you can monetise it. 

In return, we can justify to our Board that, we are paying this extraordinary sum of money but we are getting something for it. That was the simple logic that we applied in our own minds. So I’m giving you a sense and therefore I’m hoping that if we can co-create a solution, we are also happy to co-create a solution. 

We are not coming here saying this is, you know, this is the be all and end all, you know. But I must say though, Lulama, that this is the very important point for us. It’s a deal breaker point, I’ll be honest. And I have re-iterated it. I have said this to you before. 


The DA in a statement about the meeting's transcript says that "the implications of MultiChoice paying kickbacks in order to not solidify its dominance in the pay-TV sector, but also secure influence over government policy in its favour, are serious".

"It speaks to a company willing to stop at nothing, including paying kickbacks to the Gupta family, thus supporting State Capture, in order to get its way".

The DA in its statement says that "while companies should be allowed the space to conduct business in a free market system, there must be adherence to business ethics and the law."

"This matter, and in particular the payments, now require thorough investigation by the South African broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa). The DA has written to Icasa requesting an investigation," says the party.

"The DA had hoped that following media reports about ANN7 last week, MultiChoice would take the opportunity to play open cards by revealing all."

"It refused to do so. It is now left to Icasa to reveal the truth."

MultiChoice in response to a media enquiry from TVwithThinus seeking comment from the company after the Democratic Alliance meeting and transcript release, says: "“This was not a clandestine meeting. No kickbacks were paid. This was part of a negotiation meeting with the SABC. The final decision on this proposal lay with the SABC board".

The SABC has also been approached for comment about the DA party's statement and the transcript of the SABC meeting, and the public broadcaster's reaction will be added here when received.


Other fascinating titbits from the transcript reveals:

- According to the transcript, Lulama Mokhobo is clearly on such friendly terms that she uses the nickname "Imi" for Imtiaz Patel in the meeting, instead of his full name.

- Nolo Letele, MultiChoice South Africa chairperson, also attended the meeting.

- The then SABC chairperson Ellen Tshabalala tells MultiChoice: "Since you have presented this condition [unencrypted access], if you can just give a day for us to bounce it to the minister of communications, because we have an unclear position on the matter':

- Then MultiChoice CEO Imtiaz Patel reveals that MultiChoice and the SABC previously wanted to do an agreement in terms of Olympic Games broadcast coverage: "'Unfortunately your previous board, its easy to ... we can rubbish them now, they’re gone. But they didn't sign the agreement unfortunately".

- The then SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo is clearly hungering after the premium type pay-TV channel content for the SABC that is available to DStv's pay-TV subscribers. 

She tells Imtiaz Patel: "It will be good for us to get PBS [public broadcasting system] type content, something like the History Channel, Discovery Channel - those kinds of channels, the ones that really talk to us". 

- Jimi Matthews to MultiChoice deadpans on getting the SABC News channel up and running: "I engage with the bureaucracy of this place [SABC]'.

The then SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo then responds: "Oh, Jimmy."

- The then SABC chairperson Ellen Tshabalala: "I want to request that we keep this matter confidential" and says: "We know how print media reacts to this kind of thing".

Minute of the Meeting Between the SABC MultiChoice 6 June 2013 by Thinus on Scribd

Parliament's acting secretary Penelope Tyawa joins speaker Baleka Mbete in trying to keep secret the report that says who lied during parliament's special SABC Inquiry.

The acting secretary of South Africa's parliament, Penelope Tyawa, has now apparently joined parliament's speaker, Baleka Mbete, with both who are conspiring to keep the South African public uninformed and the country's TV industry in the dark, refusing to release a report publicly stating which people who testified in parliament in December 2016 lied to the SABC Inquiry.

After a thorough, special ad hoc committee inquiry in December 2016 and January 2017 into maladministration, corruption and mismanagement at the beleaguered SABC and the dealings of the mafia-like former SABC board, parliament's legal services unit handed a report to speaker Baleka Mbete, naming the witnesses who gave contradictory and misleading evidence during the SABC inquiry.

So far Baleka Mbete has refused to make this report public with information that South African citizens, the TV industry and TV viewers who are forced to pay SABC TV licence fees to a public broadcaster, have a right to know in an open democracy.

Despite an application made on 20 June by the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party's deputy whip, Mike Waters who served on the ad hoc committee, in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to get access to this report, Penelope Tyawa, has now also refused.

"The report was one of the key recommendations of the SABC inquiry report. Significantly, it was to be completed within 60 days with the aim of criminal charges being laid," says Mike Waters, in a statement.

On Wednesday Penelope Tyawa told Mike Waters that the report "would be made available by the end of August or soon thereafter".

Mike Waters says Penelope Tyawa "has joined the Speaker of the National Assembly in trying to keep the report into those who lied during the SABC inquiry from public scrutiny".

"This reasoning is laughable as parliament's legal services unit completed the report and submitted it to parliament on 5 June 2017 through its representative, the National Assembly speaker.

"It is now precisely the representative of parliament, Baleka Mbete, who is protecting the persons implicated in the report by refusing to table it, which she is required to do 'without delay' ".

In a statement from South Africa's parliament on late Thursday, parliament said that "the speaker is in no position to disclose the names of the affected individuals publicly before a committee process has begun".

"Any insinuation that the speaker seeks to quash a parliamentary probe into these allegations is erroneous and without basis."

People who likely lied during the SABC Inquiry include:

the failed former minister of communications, Faith Muthambi, recently shunted to another ministry;
the disgraced former SABC chairperson Ellen Tshabalala who also lied about tertiary qualifications she doesn't have;
the confused and stubborn former SABC chairperson Mbulaheni Maguvhe who was staunch Hlaudi Motsoeneng supporter;
and the patriarchal former SABC chairperson Ben Ngubane who of course doesn't fly economy.

SABC paying Hlaudi Motsoeneng and Ellen Tshabalala's legal fees by submitting claims to the SABC's insurance company.

It's come to light in parliament that the SABC is paying the large legal fees of Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the public broadcaster's controversial and famously matricless chief operating officer (COO) and the disgraced former chairwoman Ellen Zandile Tshabalala who lied about qualifications she doesn't have.

South Africa's minister of communications, Faith Muthambi, in response to questions by the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party, revealed that the SABC has been submitting claims to the public broadcaster's insurance company to pay for Ellen Zandile Tshabalala and Hlaudi Motsoeneng's legal fees.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng is mired in a protracted court battle over his appointment as COO and after the Public Protector's scathing report in February 2014 according to which he admitted in a recorded interview that he lied about having matric and made up symbols for a matric certificate he knew he couldn't produce.

The Public Protector's report implicated him in serious maladministration and several instances of abuse of power and found that Hlaudi Motsoeneng should "never have been appointed at the SABC" and that a disciplinary hearing should start immediately.

The SABC never did and the court case that  will now likely determine the powers of the Public Protector has now reached the Supreme Court of Appeals.

According to Gavin Davis, DA member of parliament and member of parliament's portfolio committee on communictions, the SABC paying Ellen Tshabalala and Hlaudi Motsoeneng's legal fees means that taxpayers are funding their legal costs.

"It is now clear why EllenTshabalala was prepared to use every tactic her legal team could dream up to delay the outcome of the parliamentary inquiry, including a court interdict. She had been guaranteed a bottomless pit of public money to avoid justice for as long as possible. Ellen Tshabalala stated last year that her legal fees came to more than R1 million."

"Hlaudi Motsoeneng is appealing a high court judgment ordering the SABC to suspend and discipline him, as directed by the public protector, says Gavin Davis. "The exact cost of Hlaudi Motsoeneng's legal fees so far is not known, but it is likely to be in the region of R1.5 million - and counting".

"With the public paying his legal expenses, it is no wonder that he has vowed to take his case all the way to the constitutional court if his appeal fails."

"Not only is it morally unjustifiable for the public to pay Hlaudi Motsoeneng and Ellen Tshabalala's legal costs, there are serious question marks over the legality of the SABC's decision to indemnify them from paying."

"Both lied about their qualifications before they joined the SABC. This means they committed wrongdoing in their personal capacity; it cannot be said that they committed these acts in the course and scope of their employment. Indeed, the SABC should be taking action against Hlaudi Motsoeneng and Ellen Tshabalala, not funding their legal battles".

In April, Hlaudi Motsoeneng's lawyer, Zola Majavu, said that Hlaudi Motsoeneng had been paying his own legal fees in the case which had already run into millions of rands.

SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday morning.

Appointment of Prof Obert Mbulaheni Maguvhe as SABC chairperson condemned by South African political parties, IFP, DA and COPE.

The political appointment of Prof Obert Mbulaheni Maguvhe as new permanent SABC chairperson by president Jacob Zuma on Friday has been swiftly condemned by South African opposition parties like the IFP and the Democratic Alliance (DA), saying Maguvhe is being rewarded for getting rid of independently-minded SABC board members and protecting the SABC's controversial and famously matricless chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

On Friday president Jacob Zuma announced that Prof Obert Mbulaheni Maguvhe, who happens to be blind and who had been the acting SABC chairperson, has been appointed to the position permanently and that SABC board member Leah Khumalo has been appointed as new deputy SABC chairperson.

Prof Obert Mbulaheni Maguvhe took over as acting SABC chairperson at the beginning of 2015 after the scandalous exit of the disgraced and shamed Ellen Tshabalala who left in December 2014 after she was exposed for lying about tertiary qualifications she didn't have.

Prof. Obert Mbulaheni Maguvhe then presided over the purging of the SABC board members Hope Zinde, Rachel Kalidass and Ronnie Lubisi, leaving the unstable and gutted SABC board without a quorum.

"Prof Obert Mbulaheni Maguvhe proved his political usefulness further this year when, as acting chairperson of the SABC board, he illegally removed Hope Zinde, Rachel Kalidass and Ronnie Lubisi," says the DA member of parliament and member of the portfolio committee on communications, Gavin Davis.

"It has since been confirmed by parliament's legal advisors that Maghuve's decision to remove these SABC board members was unlawful."

"He is now being rewarded for getting rid of excellent and independently-minded SABC board members and protecting Hlaudi Motsoeneng when he should have been fired."

"Obert Mbulaheni Maguvhe's appointment is bad news for all South Africans who want the SABC to be the independent public broadcaster envisaged in our Constitution," says Gavin Davis.

The IFP said it rejected the political appointment of Prof Obert Mbulaheni Maguvhe and that the SABC and the SABC board will only become credible and effective when the struggling public broadcaster is separated from politics.

"For as long as it is treated as a cadre-deployment division of the ANC, it will not be able to fully and independently executive its mandate in the public interest," says the IFP member of parliament Liezl van der Merwe.

The IFP called Prof Obert Mbulaheni Maguvhe and Leah Khumalo "loyalists" of the minister of communications, Faith Muthambi and of Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

The IFP says it rejects Prof Obert Mbulaheni Maguvhe appointment as new permanent SABC chairperson "because he must still be held to account for the unlawful and illegal removal of three independent-minded board members - Hope Zinde, Rachel Kalidass and Ronnie Lubisi earlier this year."

The Congress of People (COPE called Prof Pbert Mbulaheni and Leah Khumalo "praise singers" and said "Luthuli House will in effect control the SABC," in a statement.

"The SABC, like the ruling party in parliament, will continue with whitewashing misdemeanours and continue to regard all us fools."

A new crisis hits the SABC board - nobody wants to be on it. Parliament concerned over only 24 applications for 2 positions; postpones process.

With the severely damaged public reputation of the SABC and ongoing drama at the beleaguered public broadcaster another crisis has been created: South African citizens are no longer willing to serve as readily on the unstable SABC board marred by acrimonious in-fighting and plagued by government interference as people once were.

A new crisis has hit the SABC and the SABC board: nobody apparently wants to be on it.

From hundreds of applications in the past when an SABC board position opened, its plunged to only a shocking 24 applications which were received - for two positions.

Meanwhile instability continues with the SABC board still without a permanent SABC board chairperson - a vacancy which has also not yet been filled.

Prof. Obert Maguvhe has been serving as acting SABC chairperson for almost half a year now after the shamed Ellen Tshabalala abruptly resigned in mid-December 2014 after being exposed for fraudulent credentials.

Ellen Tshabalala lied about tertiary qualifications she didn't have but claimed she "did nothing wrong" despite being found guilty on two charges by parliament's portfolio committee on communications, tasked with oversight of the struggling public broadcaster.

The call for applications for a new SABC chairperson led to 97 applications received but in the months since her departure has not yet been filled.

While five candidates out of the 97 were shortlisted by parliament not a single interview for new SABC chairperson has taken place.

Meanwhile the public broadcaster continues to make daily news headlines for all the wrong reasons similar to struggling and crises-riddled parastatals SAA and Eskom.

Since the beginning of the year other another three SABC board members - Rachel Kalidass, Ronnie Lubisi and Hope Zinde - were all fired by the minister of communications, Faith Muthambi, saying she can do so under the Companies Act because the SABC is a state-owned firm, instead of the Broadcasting Act which directs the workings of the public broadcaster.

Besides those three SABC board posts not yet filled - only 24 applications were received for the vacant positions of yet another two "empties": that of Thembinkosi Bonakele and Prof. Bongani Khumalo.

Thembinkosi Bonakele quit the SABC board almost a year ago in June 2014 with Faith Muthambi taking months to tell parliament. A fed-up Prof. Bongani Khumalo, tired of government interference in the SABC board abruptly quit in January 2015.

The crisis with a lack of people with experience and a background in broadcasting and management willing to serve on the SABC board, is raising fears that people have now become scared to damage their career CV's if the potential exists for their names ending up in lurid headlines, or getting removed as a board director if there's backstage drama.

The crisis with too few applications for the SABC board which originally had 12 members, has now led parliament's portfolio committee on communications to postpone the process of finding and replacing SABC board members.

Portfolio committee chairperson Joyce Moloi-Moropa admitted yesterday that there exists a perception problem, since the position of permanent SABC chairperson has not yet been filled, while further vacant positions for SABC board positions had been advertised.

Gavin Davis, Democratic Alliance (DA) MP and member of the portfolio committee yesterday requested that the vacant positions for SABC board members be readvertised. "I must be honest, I can't find that much quality among these 24 candidates and that is going to leave us with a problem."

Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP and member of the portfolio committee said that the low number and quality of applications reflect a crisis for the SABC and the country.

"If the vacancies were properly advertised then this country is in a crisis because these CV's were difficult," he said.

The portfolio committee on communications now wants to relook at the 97 applications received for SABC chairperson, to possibly use and sift through those to fill the growing gaping holes on the SABC board.

Joyce Moloi-Moropa said parliament's legal advisors will be asked about the legality of including the 97 CV's for the SABC chairperson position.

BREAKING. SABC's lying chairwoman Ellen Zandile Tshabalala resigns following pressure on president Jacob Zuma to fire her.

The SABC's lying chairwoman Ellen Zandile Tshabalala has resigned today following pressure on her close friend and ally president Jacob Zuma to fire her, following the shocking revelations of her bogus Unisa tertiary qualifications and her months' long and scandalous protracted battle to halt a parliamentary enquiry which found that she lied and misrepresented herself.

The recalcitrant Ellen Zandile Tshabalala - whose erratic and bisarre refusal to step down following the revelations of how she faked qualifications, and heaped scorn and further scandal on the beleaguered SABC and SABC board - finally resigned this morning.

She is gone as SABC chairperson and gone from the SABC board where she pocketed a lot of money, while she never had the qualifications she claimed to have.

Backdoor machinations makes it clear that the disgraceful Ellen Zandile Tshabalala decided - and was perhaps ordered - to resign, in order to save, protect and prevent president Jacob Zuma the humiliation of having to do an all-out public firing of the SABC chairperson who he's friends with.

The search will now begin yet again, anew, to try and find a new SABC chairperson following Ellen Zandile Tshabalala who only served a disastrous year as chairperson atop the beleaguered South African public broadcaster, struggling to find stability.

Ellen Zandile Tshabalala is the next SABC chairperson now gone and out in a long line of controversial and scandal-riddled SABC chairpersons coming and going in succession, and seemingly unable to institute true reform, stability and solid, responsible and transparent governance at the SABC.

In a statement the Democratic Alliance's shadow minister of communications, Gavin Davis, welcoming the decision, says Ellen Tshabalala's resignation is "an elegant solution for president Jacob Zuma who was under pressure to suspend her pending the outcome of the parliamentary process".

"It has been 5 months since the DA requested a parliamentary inquiry into allegations that Ellen Tshabalala lied about her qualifications. It was an unnecessarily protracted saga caused by the various delaying tactics employed by Ellen Tshabalala and her legal team".

"Credit is due to all members of the communications portfolio committee, especially our colleagues from the ANC. They pushed ahead with the parliamentary inquiry, despite the well-known connections that Ellen Tshabalala has in the upper echelons of the party," says Gavin Davis.

More to come as the story develops ...

Court asked to remove the 'toxic' and lying matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng from the SABC as a matter of urgency.

The Western Cape High Court was asked to order the suspension of the SABC's famously matricless chief operating officer (Hlaudi Motsoeneng) because he is a "toxic element" who lied about his qualifications.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) political party on Tuesday asked the Western Cape High Court for an urgent interim interdict for the removal of the controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng from the SABC.

Despite the scathing report from the Public Protector released in February implicating Hlaudi Motsoeneng in maladministration at the SABC as well as a recorded interview in which he admitted about lying about having a matric and having "made up symbols" for a matric certificate he knew he couldn't produce, the recalcitrant SABC has not sanctioned, suspended or acted against Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng is implicated in the Public Protector's report in his massive salary increase from R1.5 million to R2.4 million in just one year, and that he was involved in the firing of every single person who testified against him at a previous SABC disciplinary hearing.

The SABC's chairperson, Ellen Tshabalala who also has questions swirling about her post graduate qualifications, in court documents says the SABC knew that Hlaudi Motsoeneng doesn't have a matric.

Yet Hlaudi Motsoeneng's application form at the SABC clearly shows that SABC personnel wrote that a matric certificate is still outstanding, as well as symbols filled-in for a matric certificate.

In court papers Ellen Tshabalala says Hlaudi Motsoeneng is not dishonest, had never misled the SABC has not been responsible for irregular spending.

Lawyer Anton Katz for the DA political party told the court that Hlaudi Motsoeneng is "a toxic element running through that organisation" and said that it is urgent that he be removed from the SABC.

Anton Katz said that SABC employees are scared of Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

The application for an urgent interdict to remove Hlaudi Motsoeneng focused on his alleged "unlawful" appointment as COO at the SABC by the SABC board.

Outside the front entrance of the Western Cape High Court some members of the Ses'Khona People's Rights Movement were toyi-toying saying Hlaudi Motsoeneng must stay because the SABC has "a good story to tell" and that they don't care whether he has a matric or not.

'The SABC forsakes its role as South Africa's public broadcaster' - Die Burger editorial.

Die Burger Afrikaans newspaper on Wednesday 16 July carried this editorial opinion piece translated in full, below, regarding the SABC blatant and shocking marginalisation of Afrikaans TV programming on public television:


                                      ___________

"The news that the SABC wants to move its Afrikaans television programmes and news bulletins to SABC3 from the current SABC2 channel - which far fewer people can access - creates understandable distress.

This beggars belief. It is not normally the case that an organisation that is being smothered by a tsunami of bad publicity chooses to exacerbate the problem.

In the past few days the SABC has been dealt two crushing blows. 

The first was the public reaction to the permanent appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as chief operating officer (despite the damning indictment of him by the Public Protector); the second was the revelation that the chairperson of the SABC board, Ellen Tshabalala had enhanced her CV - just as Motsoeneng had done.

In itself this would have resulted in any organisation under competent management taking a decision not only to investigate those under a dark cloud of suspicion but to delay or negate any further controversial decisions.

But no, the SABC resolutely continues with its decision to move its Afrikaans television news bulletins to a channel which cannot be accessed by the majority of people in areas of South Africa where the dominant language is Afrikaans.

Who is the most detrimentally affected by this decision? Afrikaans speaking people in rural areas, coloured and white, who cannot afford to subscribe to DStv. 

By taking such injudicious - or perhaps deliberately malicious - steps the SABC nullifies its duty as public broadcaster. 

But more than that: the Corporation which should be creating unity, through this step, creates division. In so doing it negates its calling.

It is ironic that, in so doing, the SABC has turned its back on a potentially valuable audience and created a gap in the market which will quickly be filled by the market forces of demand and supply. 

Other institutions will profit from this while the public broadcaster staggers under its growing debt.

The SABC's problems are far broader and deeper than just this poor decision. Its point of departure should be to remove Motsoeneng from his post and to thoroughly investigate Tshabalala. Only then can the question of reconstruction be considered."
                                      ___________

SABC chairperson Zandile Tshabalala tells parliament: There's no reason for the SABC to fire the matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

The SABC chairperson Ellen Zandile Tshabalala told parliament's portfolio committee on Friday evening that the SABC and the SABC board sees no reason to suspend or fire the famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng who is implicated in serious maladministration as acting chief operating officer (COO) and lied on record about his qualifications.

The Public Protector in a final and scathing report on the SABC and Hlaudi Motsoeneng found that:

■ Hlaudi Motsoeneng "admitted, during his recorded interview, that he had falsified his matric qualifications".

■ Hlaudi Motsoeneng "should never have been appointed" at the SABC.

■ Hlaudi Motsoeneng was involved in 3 "irregular" salary increases from R1,5 milion per year to R2,4 million in a single year.

■ Hlaudi Motsoeneng got 3 "irregular" salary increases from R1,5 milion per year to R2,4 million in a single year.

■ Hlaudi Motsoeneng shows "a lack of ethical conduct".

■ Hlaudi Motsoeneng irregularly and rapidly increased the salaries of various staff members, resulting in the SABC's salary bill escalating by R29 million more than it should have.

■ Hlaudi Motsoeneng was "directly involved with the termination of the employment of Bernard Koma, Hosia Jiyane, Sello Thulo, Montlenyane Diphoko, Mapule Mbatathi and Ntswoaki Ramaphosa who participated in Hlaudi Motsoeneng's disciplinary hearing held in Bloemfontein".

■ Hlaudi Motsoeneng did "gross fraudulent misrepresentation of facts by declaring himself to be in possession of a matric certificate obtained at Metsimantsho High" in QwaQwa, and made up symbols for a matric certificate he knew he couldn't produce.

■ The Public Protector's final report asked that the SABC remove Hlaudi Motsoeneng by 18 May - a date which has long since lapsed.

Ellen Zandile Tshabalala told parliament's portfolio committee on communications on Friday that "we [SABC board] don't have a basis for suspension because in our case he performs. He has even gone to a role which isn't his role of raising funding for the SABC".

The Public Protector's final report asked that the SABC remove Hlaudi Motsoeneng by 28 May - a date which has long since lapsed.

"If the Public Protector produces any suspicious information about any individual or business, it doesn't necessary mean it's Bible," said Ellen Zandile Tshabalala.

BREAKING. SABC chairperson Ellen Tshabalala publicly asks that people vote for the ANC and makes political statements she is not supposed to do.

Over the long weekend Ellen Tshabalala, the SABC chairperson who is supposed to be apolitical publicly as the head of the SABC board and the South African public broadcaster, asked people to vote for the ANC and took a public party political stance by promoting a specific, and the ruling, political party.

On Friday Ellen Tshabalala publicly canvassed for votes for the ANC in KwaMashu, telling residents that "there are too many political parties", saying that multiple political parties registered for the May elections are "confusing" and telling residents that "the government knows where it is going".

Ellen Tshabalala as SABC chairperson told KwaMashu residents at the event to hand over houses, to vote for the ANC and not any of the opposition parties.

In 2012 SABC board member Cedric Gina appeared on SABC News television wearing an ANC shirt at a SABC press conference, showing how far the lines have blurred at the SABC between its role of being a public broadcaster, and having turned into a state broadcaster where SABC board members, and in turn executives, are appointed by the ruling political party.

SABC board members, SABC journalists and personnel - although they have personal views and hold party political preferences - are not supposed to speak out publicly or canvass for votes for any specific political party.

A month after the results of a scathing PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report into the shocking lack of skills and qualifications at the SABC, as well as a damning report from the Public Protector on abuse of power and maladministration at the SABC - which also implicated the famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng as acting chief operating officer (COO) - Ellen Tshabalala's SABC board has not placed him on suspension and has not made public any actions or direct interventions which have been taken following the reports.

On Monday morning the SABC didn't respond to a media enquiry asking if it is still SABC policy that members of the SABC board, SABC personnel and SABC executives be apolitical publicly about political party affiliations and not do public canvassing. The SABC was also asked if there is any comment or response on Ellen Tshabalala's public speaking in KwaMashu. So far there's been no response.

Interviews for candidates for the new 12-member permanent SABC board will start next week in parliament.

Interviews for candidates for the new 12-member permanent SABC board will start next week Tuesday in parliament until Friday with the list of applications which has been narrowed down to 37 potential candidates.

A multiparty task team was set up last week to cull through the 147 applications which were received to be on the SABC board.

The SABC is currently governed by an interim SABC board who's term will expire at the end of September.

The interim SABC board members were appointed temporarily after the mass exodus and resignations of the entire SABC board in March this year. That followed after claims of undue interference by the then-minister of communications, Dina Pule, who has now been found guilty of corruption by parliament's ethics committee.

The names of members of the current interim SABC board appears on the list of 37 shortlisted candidates, among which are Ellen Tshabalala (the current interim SABC chairperson), Noluthando Gosa (the current deputy SABC chairperson), Ronnie Lubisi and Vusumuzi Mavuso.

The list of 37 names also includes Lumko Mtide who was on the SABC board previously and resigned earlier this year, as well as Darkie Africa, a North West province politician.

The list also includes the name of the highly respected Kate Skinner, the previous co-ordinator and now a member of the vast public pressure group SOS Coalition, a group striving for responsible and quality public broadcasting in South Africa.

Bongani Khumalo, CEO of the Lotto operator Gindani, Thembinkosi Bonakele, the deputy commissioner of the Competition Commission, Charlotte Mampane who is a former SABC chief operating officer and Hope Zinde, a former SABC Africa presenter also made the shortlisted 37.

Also under the shortlisted 37 candidates are Zola Majavu, the lawyer and Premier Soccer League prosecutor, together with the columnist William Gumede and veteran journalist John Mattison.

Connie Seoposengwe, a former speaker of the Northern Cape province is also on the list as a candidate, together with Joe Makhafola, a former spokesperson for the department of communications.

New minister of communications Yunis Carrim meets with SABC; says digital terrestrial migration, vacant exec positions to be addressed urgently.

The new minister of communications Yunis Carrim and the deputy minister of communications, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams met with the SABC management, SABC board, trade unions and SABC staff to talk about the public broadcaster's long-delayed digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration process, the SABC's turnaround strategy and critical issues preventing the SABC from moving forward.

"We looked at the need of the filling of critical positions at senior management level and some of the challenges around that," said Yunis Carrim.

"We will be back here in two weeks to take things further. We've set up a joint technical task team without interfering with the operational autonomy of the SABC. We want to help, as a shareholder to assist the SABC to be the fully functioning, effective, public broadcaster it needs to be, and this country so desperately needs," said Yunis Carrim.

"The SABC board and management agreed with us that we need to settle outstanding matters related to digital terrestrial broadcasting migration, including the set-top box issues, so that the project is expediously implemented in all our interests. It was also agreed that challenges in filling senior management posts will be addressed urgently."

"It's very clear that the things that have been delaying our progress he is taking very seriously and is taking them rapidly, in particular matters relating around digital terrestrial television (DTT and the roll-out of DTT and providing appropriate oversight on implementation," said Lulama Mokhobo, the SABC's CEO.

"[He's looking at] the matter of the SABC's chief operating officer (COO), we have had a litigant that position back for a long time; and also looking in general, how do we bring the SABC to where it should be. How do we lift it to where it should be? We are very excited," said Lulama Mokhobo. "It's going to be business unusual at the SABC under his tenure."

"We are determined to play our full role in turning the SABC around," said Ellen Tshabalala, the SABC board chairperson.

The department of communications will be back at the SABC in two weeks.

SABC IN CHAOS & CRISIS: Who are the 5 of the new interim SABC board who will now lead the beleaguered public broadcaster?

The SABC in chaos & crisis: Who exactly are the 5 new people whose names were called out in parliament's National Assembly today and nominated to become the new 5 member interim SABC board?

The names of Ellen Tshabalala as SABC chairperson, Noluthando Gasa as deputy chairperson and Ronny Lubisi, Iraj Abedian and Vusi Mavuso were "recommended" by Eric Kholwane in the National Assembly and bulldozed through parliament today for the "acceptance" of president Jacob Zuma.

Parliament and the portfolio committee on communications either had to go the long route (which would take too long since the SABC's corporate governance is in total meltdown) and slowly appoint new SABC board members to fill the massive number of gaps which requires public consultation, or dissolve the entire SABC board.

The Broadcasting Act makes it possible to dissolve the entire SABC board and appoint an interim SABC board for a temporary 6 month basis - a process that does not require consultation and which is what happened today.

Meanwhile all the questions as to what actually happened, why it happened, why it all keeps happening and which is what parliament and the portfolio committee on communications is supposed to be doing and asking, remains unanswered as the fractured SABC continues it steady decline in governance and brand image as public broadcaster.

Ellen Tshabalala as SABC chairperson
Apparently had "extensive experience" in banking, strategic development, international business and investment.

Noluthando Gosa as SABC deputy chairperson
Why this person would be recommended again after she just resigned (why do you want someone who just made it clear they the person doesn't want to be there and be in such a position?) is not clear.
Of course Noluthando resigned before in December 2005. Then came back. Now she's resigned again.  And is asked back again.
This would be Nolly's third stint as a SABC board member after she just resigned days ago. Nols apparently also has "extensive experience" about the inner workings of the SABC. Youbetcha. So much so that you actually resign because of it.


Vusi Mavuso
The former chairperson of the board of directors of Transparency International (South Africa) who also served on the Public Service Commission as part of the ethics committee. How about some transparency at the SABC, Vusi? Like why viewers have to watch The Cosby Show on SABC3 and SABC1 and not yet also on SABC2.


Ronny Lubisi
Apparently a chartered accountant.

Iraj Abedian
The only name on this list I know. A well-respected economist and analyst. A brilliant strategic thinker, a wonderful speaker and a clever public finance management expert.
A board member of the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA).
Sadly this is also the only person where there is a chance that he might not accept the position as a SABC board member.

SABC IN CHAOS & CRISIS: New SABC interim board forced through parliament with zero transparency. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

The SABC in chaoss & crisis: The beleaguered SABC's board - all but decimated by en masse resignations leaving only one person left - was officially dissolved as expected today in parliament after a conflict-riddled emergency meeting of parliament's portfolio committee on communications with a new interim SABC board bulldozed through.

The SABC board - ripped apart the past 14 days after vicious public infighting between the SABC board and the minister of communications, Dina Pule and the SABC board members between themselves as with its chairperson dr. Ben Ngubane - was officially dissolved in parliament today following the recommendation of the dissolution of the SABC board to the National Assembly in terms of s15A(3) of the Broadcasting Amendment Act 4 of 2009.

The names of a brand-new interim SABC board was quickly bulldozed through the portfolio committee on communications which held an emergency meeting about the SABC in parliament today, and then chairperson Eric Kholwane of the portfolio committee nominated and read out the names of the recommended new interim SABC board members in the National Assembly.

Ellen Tshabalala as SABC chairperson, Noluthando Gasa as deputy chairperson who was an SABC board member but resigned this past weeked, Ronny Lubisi, Iraj Abedian and Vusi Mavuso were "recommended" by Eric Kholwane in the National Assembly.

This five person interim SABC board will be the new temporary SABC board who will get to work with SABC CEO Lulama Makhobo and of course the SABC's famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng - who is or isn't the acting chief operating officer at the moment (nobody knows).

Parliament and the portfolio committee on communications either had to go the long route (which would take too long since the SABC's corporate governance is in total meltdown) and slowly appoint new SABC board members to fill the massive number of gaps which requires public consultation, or dissolve the entire SABC board.

The Broadcasting Act makes it possible to dissolve the entire SABC board and appoint an interim SABC board for a temporary 6 month basis - a process that does not require consultation.

This is exactly what happened today.

This new 5 person team is now going to be the new interim SABC board.

Dr. Ben Ngubane, Thami Ka Plaatjie, Patricia Makhesha, Lumko Mtide, John Danana, Cedric Gina, Desmond Golding, Cawe Mahlati, Suzanne Vos, Pippa Green and Claire O'Neil ...

... have now been replaced by Ellen Tshabalala, Noluthando Gasa (who is back after she just resigned and clearly didn't want to be there!), Ronny Lubisi, Iraj Abedian and Vusi Mavuso.

Which creates one more question among the countless unanswered questions about the ongoing and massive malaise afflicting the SABC.

Who the hell are these people?