Implicated SABC board chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini wants Mary Papayya gone from case over alleged SABC News editorial interference around Cyril Ramaphosa election interview since she's a member of Sanef as news boss Phathiswa Magopeni's disciplinary hearing looms.

by Thinus Ferreira

The SABC board has split after the implicated chairperson of the South African public broadcaster, Bongumusa Makhathini wants SABC board member Mary Papayya removed from a serious grievance over alleged SABC News editorial interference involving president Cyril Ramaphosa because she is a member of the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef).

Meanwhile the disciplinary hearing of the SABC News boss, Phathiswa Magopeni - that the SABC wants to keep secret - is set for this coming week, with Phathiswa Magopeni who is charged with alleged negligence and bringing the SABC into disrepute, who made the serious allegation that Bongumusa Makhathini and SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe are both guilty of political editorial interference of SABC News.

The Sunday Times newspaper on Sunday reported that Bongumusa Makhathini - who himself is implicated in the serious grievance of alleged SABC News editorial interference - wants SABC board member Mary Papayya gone from deliberations over a grievance of allegations of editorial interference since she is a member of Sanef.

Sanef has demanded that the disciplinary hearing of Phathiswa Magopeni, given the seriousness of the charges and her allegations, be open for the media to attend and for the public to see since the SABC is a public broadcaster.

Gugu Ntuli, SABC spokesperson, didn't respond to media queries about Bongumusa Makhathini's demand.

Bongumusa Makhathini, in a letter to SABC deputy board member, Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi, demands that Mary Papayya must remove herself from "any discussions or decision-making" over the allegations of SABC News editorial interference because she is a member of Sanef.

He claims that because Mary Papayya is a member of Sanef and because Sanef has "declared an interest with respect to Phathiswa Magopeni's disciplinary proceedings", Mary Papayya must step aside.

"In this light, it cannot be acceptable that Mary Papayya participates in any further discussions and/or decision-making on a matter in which Sanef has declared a strong, legal interest."

Bongumusa Makhathini wants Mary Papayya gone from SABC board meetings that discuss Phathiswa Magopeni because according to him she won't "act impartially".

"Even if Mary Papayya recuses herself from Sanef meetings when SABC matters are discussed this does not cure the conflict of interest. Mary Papayya sits on the Sanef management committee and the Sanef council, which is that organisation's highest decision-making body."

"Likewise she sits on the SABC board, which is the public broadcaster's highest decision-making body and which will play a role in the outcome of the grievance lodged against me," Bongumusa Makhathini writes.

"It is therefore my respectful submission that Mary Papayya cannot participate in any further discussions and/or decisions on the grievance lodged against me."

"After 4 years of resolutely defending the independence of the SABC as board chairperson, it now seems widely accepted as fact, based on an untested grievance, that I am part of a 'political conspiracy' to interfere with the SABC's editorial independence and charge Phathiswa Magopeni."

"The damage to my reputation has been incalculable and it is therefore crucially important that the process to adjudicate this grievance is fair and impartial."

Phathiswa Magopeni who said she is scared and is being hounded out of the SABC, said that the SABC chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini and SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe are both guilty of direct editorial interference in the operations of SABC News after they asked for SABC News to do an interview with ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa during the election campaigning period before the recent municipal elections.

Phathiswa Magopeni responded after she was slapped with a disciplinary hearing - set for 17 December that looks like it's a SABC witch-hunt - for allegedly bringing the SABC into disrepute and for alleged negligence. 

In her 9-page letter, Phathiswa Magopeni slams SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe and SABC chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini for trying to "destroy" her after she rebuffed their attempts to get her to approve a sudden interview for South African and ANC political party president Cyril Ramaphosa during the ANC's recent election campaign in Limpopo.

Phathiswa Madoda says Madoda Mxakwe is resolute in "hounding" her out of the public broadcaster and that both Madoda Mxakwe and Bongumusa Makhathini called her on 24 October and tried to force her to approve and schedule an interview with Cyril Ramaphosa - a clear transgression of SABC rules against editorial interference by SABC top execs and the SABC board into the operations of the SABC newsroom.

"The calls I received from Madoda Mxakwe went beyond seeking clarity about why the interview could not be done. He was putting undue pressure on me to co-ordinate that the interview be done, despite this falling outside the news division's editorial processes and being outright interference. I refused."

"He even mentioned having spoken to the minister about the issue, which I found bizarre because this was an editorial matter. I kept explaining why this was wrong and in violation of the prescribed editorial processes," Phathiswa Magopeni writes.

Then suddenly Bongumusa Makhathini called Phathiswa Magopeni although SABC board members are not allowed to do that and are prohibited from editorial interference at SABC News. He asked Phathishwa Magopeni what is happening with the Cyril Ramaphosa interview.

"I said I had done nothing because it would have been an editorial transgression. He went as far as saying the ANC president was in his final leg of the campaign and would be making his way to the SABC afterwards."

"I asked him what he was coming to do as news had no scheduled interview with him, and there was no preparation for such by editors."

"He asked me if the president would have to leave the SABC without doing the interview. I emphatically said from a news point of view, yes, because no editor had knowledge of that interview and it would be a breach of editorial transparency in our newsroom processes."

In May Bongumusa Makhathini also interfered with the operations of SABC News when he also called Phathiswa Magopeni during the succession battle surrounding the Zulu royal family and instructed her that "the other side of the family" should also be given airtime.

Bongumusa Makhathini also sent Phathiswa Magopeni a white envelope with court papers through a security guard that handed her the envelope in the SABC parking area, similar to the modus operandi that a previous SABC chairperson Ben Ngubane employed where he would scream at staffers and hand them documents. 

ALSO READ: South Africa's public broadcaster wants to keep proceedings of disciplinary hearing of its SABC news boss Phathiswa Magopeni secret as lawyers for South African National Editors Forum and CFE demand that media be allowed to attend.

ALSO READ: Scared SABC News boss Phathiswa Magopeni details shocking allegations of editorial interference by SABC chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini and CEO Madoda Mxakwe who pressured for ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa to do an election interview.

ALSO READ: SABC board says its takes SABC News boss Phathiswa Magopeni's allegations of editorial interference atSABC News of SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe and SABC chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini 'seriously' but 'won't comment further at this stage'. 

SABC COO claims SABC News newsroom has been ‘unlawfully captured’, says use of eNCA during blackout was just a joke while shocked staffers are speaking out about chillingly cold retrenchment letters telling them they're terminated.

by Thinus Ferreira

The SABC's top management is furious over the broadcast on SABC News of senior reporter Chriselda Lewis who took executives to task during a heated staff meeting inside the SABC's Auckland Park newsroom with Ian Plaatjes, SABC COO, who shockingly told parliament on Wednesday night that SABC news staff have "unlawfully captured" the public broadcaster's newsroom.

Meanwhile SABC staff are speaking out about the "chillingly cold" retrenchment letters they've received, telling them they're terminated.

The SABC is once again embroiled in palace intrigue and internal upheaval after the SABC's senior management went ahead with issuing section 189 letters as part of a retrenchment process to get rid of 400 workers at the financially struggling broadcaster.

The SABC board will now convene for an urgent and special meeting on Thursday to discuss the fractured retrenchment at the beleaguered public broadcaster.

On Tuesday SABC staff threatened a blackout of the broadcaster's SABC News (DStv 404) channel within 48 hours, after which Ian Plaatjes in a private meeting told Phathishwa Magopeni as the SABC News boss, that the SABC should consider using the channel feed of the rival commercial TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403).

With tensions and anxiety high over the retrenchment process, Ian Plaatjes told parliament on Wednesday night that he was just making a joke. "It was in jest. And in fact, the meeting that I had with the SABC News boss was to ensure that we do develop a robust plan to prevent a blackout situation".

"The fact that we've been threatened that within 48 hours we would have a blackout - we are talking about SABC News (DStv 404) that the news people have threatened with a blackout - which is why I had the meeting with Phathiswa Magopeni."

"The incident we saw yesterday [Tuesday] is that the SABC News team unlawfully captured the news platform and we certainly need to have mitigating actions to prevent that," Ian Plaatjes told parliament's portfolio committee on communications."

Mary Papayya, SABC board member asked "Who must be held accountable for what the South African public saw - the SABC making the news headlines when it should be the other way round - keeping the people informed with news and current affairs?", referring to the emotional Chrisela Lewis moment where the veteran journalist spoke truth to power that got airplay on not just the SABC but multiple other channels like eNCA and Newzroom Afrika.

Speaking about the dire situation of the SABC, board member Michael Markovitz said "We are the ones who effectively arrived on the scene of a car crash and are being blamed for the car crash. And I think that's unfair. We've all put up our hands to be public servants and to try and solve these problems".

"The SABC made a loss of R500 million. We are projected to make another loss of R1.2 billion. At what point does a director who's carrying personal liability not put up their hand and say 'If we don't take the tough decisions, are we going to be declared delinquent down the line?"

Chilling cold SABC retrenchment letters

Meanwhile bewildered SABC staff are wondering what exactly is going on or what the future holds for them with retrenchment letters that have been handed out and SABC top management that told staff in an internal memo on Wednesday that the section 189 process is continuing.

Besides the TV division, SABC radio staff were told they're out of jobs by the end of the year. 

At Umhlobo Wenene FM serving the Eastern Cape, 12 out of 14 staff received letters. The exact same scenario happened at the SABC's other 11 radio stations like Channel Africa, the SABC's pan-African radio station where everyone except 4 workers received letters.

At the SABC's RSG Afrikaans radio station where two of the 16 positions are vacant, everybody got retrenchment letters except for 2: RSG station manager Magdaleen Kruger and the secretary.

Magdaleen Kruger on radio said that there's been no consultation between the SABC's top management and the broadcaster's radio stations. "Nobody sat and talked and asked 'Are these the positions that could go and are these the new jobs that are needed?' There are jobs that are not required but which are in the new organogram".

"We are trying as SABC radio stations to get a discussion with the SABC's head of radio and the SABC's top management so that we can talk to them about the problems that we have because they're placing us in a difficult position."

"At RSG the 5 permanent presenters - Martelize Brink, Johan Rademan, Fritz Klaaste, Jacqui January and Haidee Muller - all got letters, chilling, cold letters just saying your service is herewith terminated from 1 December," said Magdaleen Kruger.

"As we sit here, if the situation remains, after 1 January 2021 I don't know what we'll do to keep RSG on air." 

She explained that all of the SABC radio stations were called together, "something was thrown on the screen of this is how the new structure would look, no feedback, you can write to us. But that was the last. There was no discussion, no interaction radio station per radio station."

"Every SABC radio station is different. We're 11 radio stations with 11 cultures and 11 languages. It now looks as if they took a one-fits-all that heavily leans on the commercial station mold. So, the radio stations who gave feedback like RSG did twice, have been ignored. It's as if it was just a motion they went through."

"So that's our big problem: It doesn't help that we go into a new SABC structure and the new structure isn't really workable. It needs a bit of tweaking. We're trying to get management to listen to our radio stations so that we can show them the problem points and the challenges - can't we find solutions?"