Public Protector Thuli Madonsela again asks the SABC when it is going to take proper action over its famously matricless COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

The Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has again asked the SABC when the public broadcaster will take the remedial actions as outlined in the Public Protector's report, "When Governance and Ethics Fail", from February 2014 over the SABC's famously matricless chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

It follows after South Africa's Constitutional Court last week ruled that the remedial actions and recommendations as made by the Public Protector regarding president Jacob Zuma's upgrades to his Nkandla homestead are binding.

It means that the Public Protector's report on Hlaudi Motsoeneng in which she found serious mismanagement at the public broadcaster and implicated Hlaudi Motsoeneng in a string of ethical lapses and maladministration, and the remedial actions asked for, is also similarly binding on the SABC.

The Public Protector found that Hlaudi Motsoeneng had lied to the SABC about having a matric certificate. "He admitted to me, and I have a recorded interview with him," said Thuli Madonsela.

"Secondly the position [of COO] was initially advertised as a position requiring certain qualifications. Therefore Hlaudi Motsoeneng didn't have those qualifications. One of them was a tertiary degree which he didn't have".

The Public Protector slammed the SABC and Hlaudi Motsoeneng for the 3 "irregular" salary increases from R1,5 milion per year to R2,4 million in a single year.

The Public Protector's report says Hlaudi Motsoeneng shows "a lack of ethical conduct" and noted that he should never have been appointed at the SABC.

The Public Protector's report finds that Hlaudi Motsoeneng's appointment as the acting chief operating officer (COO) at the SABC was "irregular" and that the SABC board is in violation of the Broadcasting Act, and that Hlaudi Motsoeneng serving in this position "constitutes improper conduct and maladministration".

The Public Protector's report found that Hlaudi Motsoeneng "directly initiated 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".

The Public Protector found that Hlaudi Motsoeneng "unilaterally increased the salaries of certain SABC staff members, adding R29 million to the public broadcaster's salary bill.

According to the Public Protector, Hlaudi Motsoeneng was allowed by multiple successive SABC board's to interfere in financial issues and human resource matters he shouldn't have.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng purged SABC staff which cause losses of millions of rands to the SABC according to the Public Protector, since the SABC had to pay out settlements for wrongful and irregular termination.

The Public Protector says Hlaudi Motsoeneng's conduct of misrepresenting his qualifications is fraud - that it is "improper and constitutes a dishonest act" and that Hlaudi Motsoeneng committed fraud when he indicated that he had completed matric.

In October 2015, the the Supreme Court of Appeals ruling found in favour of, and confirmed Thuli Madonsela's findings. 

The SABC then convened a bizarre and extremely odd, three times postponed disciplinary hearing for Hlaudi Motsoeneng, finding him not guilty on a suddenly dramatically reduced charge sheet.

Now the Public Protector wants to know from the SABC when the public broadcaster is going to comply with its report and the remedial actions requested. "It does not look like the SABC understood the court directive," says the Public Protector spokesperson Oupa Segalwe.

According to the Public Protector, the SABC has in two years since February 2014 and counting, failed to comply with the Public Protector's findings and remedial actions asked for.

"What [the SABC did so far] did not amount to implementation of her remedial action. It appeared as though the SABC misunderstood the Supreme Court of Appeals judgment," says the Public Protector's office.

SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago didn't respond to a media enquiry seeking comment on the Public Protector's latest letter to the South African public broadcaster.

SABC's Hlaudi Motsoeneng lashes out at media portraying him 'in a bad light', says media houses busy with 'smear campaign' to tarnish his name.

The SABC's controversial boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng is now lashing out at media and a newspaper he gave an interview to days ago, saying media South African press is portraying him in "a bad light" and accusing media houses in the country of being busy with a "smear campaign" to tarnish his name.

As chief operating officer (COO) of the South African public broadcaster which just recorded a shocking loss of R395 million for the financial year ended March, the highly controversial and famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng has this year publicly called at least 6 times so far for the South African media and press to be regulated and for South African journalists to be "licensed".

Hlaudi Motsoeneng's salary just rose again by almost another R1 million to R3.78 million - now earning more than South Africa's president Jacob Zuma.

With ongoing embarrassment and brand damage inflicted to the SABC, the embattled Hlaudi Motsoeneng is embroiled in a protracted court case now heading to the Constitutional Court over the Public Protector's scathing report from February 2014.

Last year the Public Protector in a damning report implicated Hlaudi Motsoeneng in maladministration and corruption at the public broadcaster, finding that "Hlaudi Motsoeneng should never have been appointed at the SABC" and revealed how his skyrocketing salary of millions ballooned three times in one year.

According to the Public Protector, Hlaudi Motsoeneng in a recorded interview admitted to having lied about having a matric certificate and made up symbols for a matric certificate he knew he didn't have and couldn't produce.

In the court case which will have profound implications for the powers of the office of the Public Protector and which had already ran up legal costs of millions of rand, the Western Cape High Court twice, and the Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA) last week again found that Hlaudi Motsoeneng should be suspended and that disciplinary proceedings should start against him.

Last week Hlaudi Motsoeneng gave a sit-down interview to journalist to Sabelo Skiti from The Sunday Times from his burgundy leather couch in his luxury corner office on the 27th floor of the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters.

In The Sunday Times interview, Hlaudi Motsoeneng told of how he's been a born leader since Standard 3, "even leading my own teachers".

"Some of them are still alive even now and I'm leading them," he said as he hauled out certificates like one in the analysis of contemporary social issues from the University of the Witwatersrand, saying of the SABC, "I saved this organisation from collapsing".

Also on Sunday, the Sunday World detailed how Hlaudi Motsoeneng was fired in 2007 from the SABC following a disciplinary hearing(the "shocking revelation" as Sunday World reported it is not a "revelation" however, nor new, it is in the Public Protector's report of 2014 and has been reported earlier in the media).

The Public Protector's report found that Hlaudi Motsoeneng who was later reappointed at the SABC, was instrumental of getting rid of everybody who testified against him during the disciplinary hearing.

On Sunday also, The Sunday Independent in a strongly-worded editorial said Hlaudi Motsoeneng and the minister of communications Faith Muthambi "have been embarrassed" and that "those at the broadcaster with superior literacy skills owe it to Hlaudi Motsoeneng - and the taxpayer - to put it to him that the jig is up. He has come to the end of the road".

"In a country with as depressing an economic situation as ours, a man who by his own admission has forged matric qualifications, has ensured that his salary has risen faster than the inflation rate - by more than R1 million," said The Sunday Independent, calling for Hlaudi Motsoeneng "to fall on his sword".

In a new opinion piece by the noted journalist Gareth van Onselen, Business Day states that Hlaudi Motsoeneng has a "confused mind" and that Hlaudi Motsoeneng "has sat on his throne of indignation and passed judgment on all and sundry from his place in the clouds".

After the Sunday Times sit-down interview, "I have noted with concern the article titled 'Courts won't stop me, says SABC's 'born leader’ published in the Sunday Times newspaper," says Hlaudi Motsoeneng in a statement issued through the SABC, calling the article "malicious".

"It insinuates that I have no respect towards the country's courts of law and undermine the processes thereof. I view this matter in a serious light and reject it with the contempt it deserves as it's aimed at portraying me in a bad light," says Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

"I view this as a smear campaign by some media houses to tarnish my name and I appreciate those who are fair in their reporting."

SABC's matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng allegedly asked SABC's HR officer to lie about his lack of matric; allegedly offered her a R2 million bribe.

Another week, more highly embarrassing scandal and public humiliation for the SABC's famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng: In a sworn affidavit the SABC's former HR officer Marie Swanepoel states that Hlaudi Motsoeneng, now the SABC's chief operating officer (COO) offered her a bribe of R2 million if she agreed to testify that she knew that he didn't have a matric when he applied for a job at the SABC.

Earlier this year in a scathing report, South Africa's Public Protector, after an investigation of months, found that Hlaudi Motsoeneng "should never have been appointed at the SABC".

In a recorded interview with the Public Protector, the controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng admitted that he lied about having a matric certificate and that he "made up symbols" for a matric certificate he knew he couldn't produce.

The Public Protector's investigation also found that Hlaudi Motsoeneng is directly implicated in getting rid of all of the people who worked at the SABC and who testified against him in an earlier disciplinary hearing, that he is directly involved in multiple salary increases in one year for himself which saw the SABC's salary bill balloon by millions of rands, as well as other governance and management failures as well as corruption.

The SABC has failed to suspend Hlaudi Motsoeneng, and it took a court case for the Western Cape High Court to order the SABC to have Hlaudi Motsoeneng suspended immediately.

On 24 October 2014 the Western Cape High Court judge Ashton Schippers ordered Hlaudi Motsoeneng "suspended immediately" and that the SABC start disciplinary proceedings against him within 14 days.

Again the SABC this month failed to suspend Hlaudi Motsoeneng, who indicated that his lawyer will appeal the judgment of the Western Cape High Court.

The SABC's recalcitrant chairperson Ellen Zandile Tshabalala is also without shame - brazenly trying to obstruct a parliamentary inquiry into her lies and lack of Unisa qualifications which she claimed to have had but which Unisa says she doesn't have for courses she never completed.

Now there is further fresh new scandal swirling around Hlaudi Motsoeneng, with Marie Swanepoel, saying in her affidavit that Hlaudi Motsoeneng allegedly told her that he would arrange for the SABC to pay her R2 million in 2012 to settle a sexual harassment case is she testified that she knew he didn't have a matric qualification when the SABC hired him.

Marie Swanepoel in her affidavit states that she declined Hlaudi Motsoeneng's bribe of R2 million, noting "matric outstanding" on his application form at the SABC at the time.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng's lawyer Zola Majavu said that he is aware of Marie Swanepoel's affidavit.

BREAKING. Public Protector to launch a new investigation into appointment of SABC's matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng's as COO.

South Africa's Public Protector Thuli Madonsela will start a new investigation into the SABC's famously matricless and highly controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng following his permanent appointment in the position of chief operating officer (COO) - a position that was not advertised.

In a scathing report from the Public Protector's office released in February, it was found that Hlaudi Motsoeneng "should never have been appointed at the SABC".

The Public Protector has a recorded interview in which Hlaudi Motsoeneng admitted that he lied about having a matric and made up symbols for a matric certificate he knew he couldn't produce. The Public Protector's report also implicated him in multiple instances of maladministration, abuse of power and irregularities at the beleaguered SABC.

The SABC and the SABC has so far failed to act on the recommendations of the Public Protector's report and instead unexpectedly and shockingly appointed Hlaudi Motsoeneng permanently. It has lead to an avalanche of universal shock, scorn, outrage and condemnation from across South Africa.

Now the Public Protector will start a new investigation into Hlaudi Motsoeneng's controversial permanent appointment.

The new investigation - while the Public Protector is waiting for answers and responses from the SABC, SABC board and the new minister of communications, Faith Muthambi on the first report from February - will focus on whether Hlaudi Motsoeneng has the right qualifications to hold the position of SABC COO.

The new investigation will focus on the process of appointment, the job description, what qualifications are required, why the position was not advertised (it was last advertised in January 2012), and why the SABC board was suddenly pressured on Monday evening to vote seven to five to appoint Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) political party already welcomed the decision by the Public Protector to launch a new and second investigation into Hlaudi Motsoeneng and the SABC.

"There is ample evidence that the decision to appoint Hlaudi Motsoeneng was deeply flawed, irrational and possibly unlawful," says Gavin Davis, the DA's shadow minister of communications in a statement on Friday.

"The post was not advertised as no candidates were shortlisted and interviewed as stipulated in the SABC's Articles of Association; Hlaudi Motsoeneng is not in possession of the qualifications required for the post; and the decision to appoint him contradicts the Public Protector's report of 17 February which was damning in its assessment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng's conduct".

Public Protector on SABC's Hlaudi Motsoeneng appointment scandal: 'He lied to the SABC and he doesn't have qualifications'.

South Africa's Public Protector Thuli Madonsela says the SABC's matricless and highly controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng who has been permanently appointed as chief operating officer (COO) by the SABC is not qualified for the position, lied, and that Hlaudi Motsoeneng admitting to lying is on a recorded interview she has.

There's widespread shock, disbelief and condemnation of the SABC today following the South African public broadcaster's permanent appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng who advocates for "good news stories" to be told by SABC News and the media and who also wants South African journalists to be licensed.

This week on The Justice Factor Hlaudi Motsoeneng was asked if he lied and falsified his qualifications but on television he said no.

The SABC and the SABC board has so far failed to act on any of the recommendations of the Public Protector's damning report of Hlaudi Motsoeneng which was issued in February and which states that "Hlaudi Motsoeneng should never have been appointed at the SABC".

"The finding is that Hlaudi Motsoeneng had lied to the SABC about having a matric certificate. He admitted to me, and I have a recorded interview with him," Thuli Madonsela told eNCA (DStv 403) on Wednesday evening.

"Secondly the position was initially advertised as a position requiring certain qualifications. Therefore Hlaudi Motsoeneng didn't have those qualifications. One of them was a tertiary degree which he didn't have".

Thuli Madonsela said she found the news that Hlaudi Motsoeneng has suddenly been permanently appointed in the position of chief operating officer (COO) "unusual. It is odd".

"The SABC board chairperson Ellen Zandile Tshabalala has written to me several times requesting extra time to submit and implementation plan," said Thuli Madonsela on eNCA.

"She was supposed to do that in 30 days. Five months down the line I'm still waiting for just a simple plan that indicated what Ellen Zandile Tshabalala is going to do. That obviously would have included her indicating to me how and when they were going to appoint the SABC's new COO".

"The first thing to do is to ask the minister of communications Faith Muthambi and the SABC board to come and explain themselves".

"Based on that I may then approach parliament to request a debate on the SABC's behaviour throughout this investigation, and finally in proceeding with this appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng".

"My main job was to say that if the SABC advertises a job as requiring certain qualifications it must then appoint a person who has those qualifications".

"Secondly, if somebody has conducted themselves wrongly, in other words, have been dishonest and committed fraud, they must be held accountable for that first before you can proceed about thinking of appointing them to a higher position, or a more permanent position than what they were occupying in the first place where misconduct took place," Thuli Madonsela told eNCA.

BREAKING. Will the SABC's matricless liar Hlaudi Motsoeneng be suspended? It will leave the crippling SABC without a CEO and a COO.

Is the SABC going to suspend the matricless liar Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the public broadcaster's acting chief operating officer (COO), who lied and said he had a matric certificate and made up fake symbols to eventually rise to a top post at the beleaguered SABC?

If Hlaudi Motsoeneng is suspended, that would leave the crippling SABC without a COO and a CEO since Lulama Mokhobo abruptly decided to resign just over two years into her five year contract and will be gone from the SABC at the end of this month.

Lulama Mokhobo is also fingered in the Public Protector's report for transgressions.

ALSO READ: The matricless liar Hlaudi Motsoeneng should never have been appointed at the SABC, the Public Protector's report finds.
ALSO READ: The SABC's matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng "unilaterally increased the salaries of certain SABC staff members, adding to the R29 million more in the salary bill.
ALSO READ: The SABC's matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng is a fraud, "pathological" SABC needs to fill permanent COO position with a suitably qualified person.
ALSO READ: Cover-up attempt within the SABC resulting in Hlaudi Motsoeneng's missing personnel file is worrying, says Public Protector.

The Public Protector found in the report that Hlaudi Motsoeneng is guilty of abuse of power, maladministration, irregularities and fraud in terms of his qualifications at the SABC.

When asked on Monday whether the SABC is going to suspend Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the broadcaster said that "that will be the decision of the SABC board. The SABC board will only be receiving the report this afternoon and after that they will be in a position to decide what the next action will be".

"At the moment everything stays as is, until the SABC has made any decision," said the SABC.

BREAKING. Cover-up attempt within the SABC resulting in Hlaudi Motsoeneng's missing personnel file worrying, says Public Protector.

The cover-up attempt within the South Africa public broadcaster resulting in the disappearance of Hlaudi Motsoeneng's missing personnel file is extremely worrying, South Africa's Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said on Monday in a damning report on irregularities, abuse of power, and widespread maladministration at the SABC.

Thuli Madonsela said on Monday in the report that "I found it rather discouraging that the current SABC board appears to have blindly sprung to Hlaudi Motsoeneng's defence on matters that precede it and which, in my considered view, require a SABC board that is serious about ethical governance to raise questions with him".

"I am also concerned that Hlaudi Motsoeneng's file disappeared amid denying ever falsifying his qualifications and that at one point he even used the absence of evidence to support his contention that there was no evidence of his alleged fraudulent misrepresentation," says the Public Protector's report.

ALSO READ: The matricless liar Hlaudi Motsoeneng should never have been appointed at the SABC, the Public Protector's report finds.
ALSO READ: The SABC's matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng "unilaterally increased the salaries of certain SABC staff members, adding to the R29 million more in the salary bill.
ALSO READ: The SABC's matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng is a fraud, "pathological" SABC needs to fill permanent COO position with a suitably qualified person.

"At times the SABC board submission appeared more defensive on his behalf than himself," said Thuli Madonsela.

She said that the SABC told the Public Protector's office that "salary increases at the SABC are negotiated without any performance contracts or notch increase parameters".

That saw Hlaudi Motsoeneng's salary skyrocket with three increases in one year from R1,5 million to R2,4 million. That is a bigger salary than what South Africa's deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe earn per year.

BREAKING. Damning Public Protector's report slams SABC and its famously matricless acting COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng for fraud.

A damning report from South Africa's Public Protector released Monday morning, is slamming the beleaguered SABC and the public broadcaster's famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng for fraud

The Public protector's report found that Hlaudi Motsoeneng cost the broadcaster millions by getting rid of staff who sued for settlements, that he committed fraud by misrepresenting his qualifications, and that he unduly interfered in financial and human resources issues.

The Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's final report on the SABC released in Pretoria on Monday morning, comes after an investigation of more than a year, following allegations of widespread maladministration and abuse of power at South Africa's beleaguered South African public broadcaster.

The Public Protector slams the SABC board  - constantly in upheaval the past four years - as "dysfunctional" and says the SABC board allowed numerous salary increases for the matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng - his salary grew by 63% in a year from R1,5 million to R2,4 million.

According to the Public Protector, Hlaudi Motsoeneng was allowed by multiple successive SABC board's to interfere in financial issues and human resource matters he shouldn't have.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng purged SABC staff which cause losses of millions of rands to the SABC according to the Public Protector, since the SABC had to pay out settlements for wrongful and irregular termination.

The Public Protector says Hlaudi Motsoeneng's conduct of misrepresenting his qualifications is fraud - that it is "improper and constitutes a dishonest act" and that Hlaudi Motsoeneng committed fraud when he indicated that he had completed matric.

The Public Protector's report says that the former SABC chairperson Ben Ngubane who resigned and left last year, changed the requirements for the position of chief operating officer (COO) so that it became tailored to suit Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

The Public Protector said that she finds its "discouraging" that the current SABC board has blindly sprung to Hlaudi Motsoeneng's defence.

The SABC has been asked for comment and reaction in a media enquiry made Monday morning seeking comments from the public broadcaster on the Public Protector's report. The SABC says the SABC board has to first study the report and will respond later.


ALSO READ: The matricless liar Hlaudi Motsoeneng should never have been appointed at the SABC, the Public Protector's report finds.
ALSO READ: The SABC's matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng "unilaterally increased the salaries of certain SABC staff members, adding to the R29 million more in the salary bill.
ALSO READ: The SABC's matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng is a fraud, "pathological" SABC needs to fill permanent COO position with a suitably qualified person.
ALSO READ: Will the SABC's matricless liar and acting chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng be suspended? It will leave the SABC without a CEO and a COO.
ALSO READ: Thuli Madonsela on the matricless liar Hlaudi Motsoeneng: "He was 23 at the time, but continued with that misrepresentation again in 2003".

Public Protector's final report released this coming Monday after a year long investigation into alleged abuse of power, maladministration at SABC.

South Africa's Public Protector Thuli Madonsela will release her office's final investigation report about alleged abuse of power, and the irregular appointment of the SABC's famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng, as well as other alleged maladministration at the SABC this coming Monday, 17 February, in Pretoria.

Journalists are welcome to attend the media briefing of the release of the final report into alleged widespread maladministration at the SABC. The release of the report comes just after the SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo decided to quit a public position at the public broadcaster, with the SABC giving no reasons, and saying its "personal and confidential".

Thuli Madonsela's final investigative report on which the Public Protector worked on for over a year, follows an investigation into allegations of maladministration, systemic governance deficiencies, abuse of power, and the irregular appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng by the SABC.

The media briefing on the SABC investigation takes place at Public Protector House, Hillcrest Office Park, Hillcrest at 10:00 on Monday 17 February.

Interested journalists can contact Salvation Mokgatlhe on 079 031 5589 or send email to salvation@pprotect.org.