Shocking Broadcasting Amendment Bill from Faith Muthambi an 'illegal take-over of the SABC' as minister plans to turn SABC from a public to state broadcaster.

A Broadcasting Amendment Bill secretly being pushed through parliament by the ruling ANC government has been created to turn the SABC back into the Apartheid era state broadcaster it was before 1994.

The shocking Broadcasting Amendment Bill will change the Broadcasting Act, giving absolute control to South Africa's minister of communications to hire and fire SABC board members and the chairperson and will reduce the number of SABC board members.

The change will make the South African Broadcasting Corporation even more insulated and unaccountable to parliament or to the people of South Africa and instead only accountable and controlled by the South African president through proxy of the communication minister.

The shocking plan to hijack the SABC and to turn it into a state broadcaster comes from the controversial minister of communications, Faith Muthambi who has already overreached by directly intervening and firing SABC board members and now wants to place the SABC back under total state control which it was during Apartheid when it was a blatant National Party mouthpiece.

If approved and signed into law, the Broadcasting Amendment Bill will give the minister of communications in South Africa, in this case the highly unpopular Faith Muthambi, sole and total control over who to appoint, and when to fire, SABC board members.

It is exactly what she has been doing this year using the thinly-veiled disguise  and excuse of decimating the board saying she's doing so under the Companies Act because the SABC is a "state-owned entity".

The unstable SABC has been lurching from crisis to crisis with acrimonious in-fighting and instability on SABC board level as well as within its top-executive ranks, with the SABC and the government struggling to fill top-executive positions, SABC board member positions still vacant for months, as well as the position of the SABC chairperson.

Instead of a democratic process, Faith Muthambi wants to unilaterally take over the process since it's become too difficult to constantly replenish empty SABC board and SABC executive positions when people quit, are fired and leave in shame when they're exposed as having lied about qualifications like the disgraced former SABC chairperson Ellen Tshabalala.

The Broadcasting Amendment Bill,if passed will drastically reduce the SABC board members from 12 to just 9.

The Broadcasting Amendment Bill also seeks to reduce the quorum for voting on decisions from 9 to 7.

The president of the country, through the minister of communications will now appoint the few SABC board members that there will be instead of parliament.

The Broadcasting Amendment Bill also seeks to give the president and minister of communications the right to appoint an "interim SABC board" at will.

The Bill also specifies a new easier and much more unaccountable way for the re-appointment, firing and resignation of SABC board members.

Oversight of the SABC as a public broadcaster is reduced and taken away and the SABC is turned into a state broadcaster under control of the ruling president and that person's serving minister of communications.

The public pressure group for public broadcasting, the SOS Coalition says it will go to the Constitutional Court to challenge the shocking Broadcasting Amendment Bill.

"We are appalled that the minister of communications would seek, so brazenly, to transform our national public broadcaster into a state broadcaster beholden to the government of the day," says Sekoetlane Phamodi, SOS Coalition spokesperson told TVwithThinus.

"The SOS Coalition will take all necessary and available steps to oppose and challenge this move by the minister. The SABC belongs to the people of this country and, accordingly, it's board must be appointed by their public representatives in parliament in an open and public process."

Kate Skinner, independent broadcasting expert and Wits lecturer told TVwithThinus that "these amendments remove parliament and the public from the appointment process".

"This takes us full circle back to Apartheid. Here the public had no role in SABC appointments - the Broadcasting Act of 1976 stipulated that the president alone should appoint SABC board members."

"This is a betrayal of the ABC's post-apartheid vision for public - not state - broadcasting," says Kate Skinner.

"There is no room for this Broadcasting Amendment Bill in our democracy. It must be removed".

In a statement the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party says the Broadcasting Amendment Bill "is quite simply bad news for South Africa's democracy".

"It will see the last vestige of independence removed from the SABC, paving the way for it to become a ANC government propaganda tool under the control of Faith Muthambi."

"Along with the SABC Memorandum of Incorporation secretly signed by Faith Muthambi in September 2014 which gives the minister of communications the right to usurp the SABC board's powers reducing it to a mere rubber stamp, the Broadcasting Amendment Bill will give the ANC complete control over the SABC," says the DA.

"For South Africa's hard-won democracy to thrive, it is imperative that the country has a public broadcaster that is independent of government, free from political interference and presents news that is an accurate representation of conditions in South Africa."

"Any machinations to remove the independence of the SABC must be viewed as not only undemocratic, but also possibly, unconstitutional."

"The DA will vehemently oppose this Broadcasting Amendment Bill for the benefit of all South Africans who have a right to impartial news, not ANC good news stories and propaganda".

The South African Communist Party (SACP) is also vehemently opposed to the Broadcasting Amendment Bill and minister Faith Muthambi's shocking plan.

The SACP says the Broadcasting Amendment Bill will turn the SABC from a public broadcasting into a "corporate broadcaster". "The Bill will effectively make the SABC a company. All future minister of communications will have direct control over the SABC, instead of parliament".

The Inkata Freedom Party (IFP) is also strongly opposed to the Broadcasting Amendment Bill and shocked by the proposed plan to turn the SABC into a state broadcaster, calling the Broadcasting Amendment Bill "disturbing" and "an illegal take-over of the SABC".

The IFP is calling for South Africans to boycott the SABC and to immediately stop paying their SABC TV licences.

"We must unite, across political divide to save our public broadcaster," says the IFP in a statement.

"As a start, the IFP is of the opinion that citizens should lead a campaign of civil disobedience by not paying their TV licenses. If all else fails, the courts must be approached to stop this disastrous amendment bill from succeeding".

"The tabling of the Broadcasting Amendment Bill by the minister of communications will effectively turn the SABC into a state broadcaster," says the IFP.

"As things stand, the National Assembly, through the portfolio committee of communications, is part and parcel of shortlisting, interviewing and recommending candidates to serve on the SABC board."

"While the IFP has in the past lamented the fact that the SABC board appointment process is flawed - because the ANC uses its majority in Parliament to push though candidates of their choice - the current process does allow for opposition parties to negotiate and fight for the most qualified, independent candidates to be considered for these posts."

"However, if the broadcasting Amendment Bill is passed, the National Assembly will no longer be involved in appointing members to the SABC board. This will become the sole prerogative of the minister of communications."

The Economic Freedom Front (EFF) party slammed the Broadcasting Amendment Bill as "an Apartheid move".

The EFF calls the proposed change of the SABC from a public broadcaster to a state broadcaster under the control of the minister of communications "an anti-democratic, totalitarian move".

"This proposal demonstrates an uncontrollable desire by the ANC government to totalitarianism and be accountable to no one. The significant thing of any totalitarian government is total control of public broadcasting services coupled with suppression of all media freedom".

"Without the public broadcaster‚ held accountable by both parliament and cabinet‚ society only depends on corporate private broadcasters to hold politicians accountable," says the EFF.

"This Broadcasting Amendment Bill is therefore an Apartheid move‚ a fascist totalitarianism seeking to monopolise the running of the people's broadcasting services to government."

"Without parliament‚ people like the SABC's chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng‚ who are unqualified to hold positions they occupy‚ will be increased in the leadership of the SABC solely because they want to kill independent journalism within the pubic broadcaster and stop all criticism on the government of the day," says the EFF.

Universal condemnation grows over SABC appointment of matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng as ANC, SACP, FXI, Mwasa, join chorus of criticism.

There's universal, growing condemnation and outrage over the SABC's shocking, ridiculous and unexpected permanent appointment of the famously matricless and highly controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng as the beleaguered SABC's chief operating officer (COO).

The ANC political party, SACP political party, the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI), Mwasa trade union, the former SABC CEO Dali Mpofu and others have joined the growing chorus of concern and criticism levelled at the struggling SABC, the SABC board, and South Africa's new minister of communications, Faith Muthambi, .

The SABC board and Faith Muthambi are reponsible for pushing through the disgraceful appointment and all but shattering whatever was left of the SABC's credibility as a public broadcaster.

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 SABC also never advertised the position of COO.


ANC
"When such an appointment is made, given all the challenges that were there at the SABC before, at least we should be taken into confidence either by the SABC board or deployees of the ANC through the minister, so that we can have a better understanding," says Zizi Kodwa, ANC national spokesperson.


SACP
The SACP wants Faith Muthambi to review the position and to readvertise the positions of SABC CEO and CFO, and to also advertise the COO position. "We want to see this position readvertised properly," says Solly Maphaila, secretary general of the SACP.

"If Hlaudi Motsoeneng is competent enough, is he can prove he has been doing well, or others can prove that they can do better, on that basis a competent panel can then look into that and take a decision".


The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI)
"The Freedom of Expression Institute is disappointed at the permanent appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as COO of the SABC. The appointment represents a further divergence of the public broadcaster from any hopes of restoring confidence in the fulfilment of its mandate under the current leadership," says FXI executive director Phenyo Dean Butale. 

"The appointment by Faith Muthambi has undermined the due process to be exercised by the SABC board in acting in the recommendations of the Public Protector's report".

"The appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng in such a matter shows the complete disregard for prescribed procedure in the recruitment of senior management within the organisation. Faith Muthambi has justified the appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng on the basis that he has been doing a good job. Evidence to support this claim is however not apparent".

"However, what is without doubt is that the SABC remains in crisis of management, strategy and implementation. Evidence in this regard is overwhelming with the SABC over the past 3 years receiving qualified audits reports".


Media Workers Association of South Africa (Mwasa)
"The shenanigans surrounding the hustled appointment of the controversial COO of the SABC represent a well-rehearsed repeat episode," says Tuwani Gumani, Mwasa secretary general.

"It has been a case of crisis management that includes massive golden handshakes and political back-patting. We have seen it all before but there seems to be no end to it".

"The latest installment involving Faith Muthambi, the SABC board, the parliamentary portfolio committee on communications, the office of the Public Protector and others, trumps all previous displays of ineptitude, incapacity,inefficiency, corruption and abuse of privilege to serve".

"It cannot be acceptable that individuals, even mavericks and populists, are persistently touted as messianic appointees that will 'turn the SABC around' ".

"The SABC is a public utility that must remain accessible to all citizens and it should provide ample space for all South Africans to find expression of their expectations, aspirations and experiences across its platforms and programmes".

"Meeting the least criteria and mediocre performance amounts to an insult to the South African public that deserves far more than brazen displays of greed, self-interest and corruption that have so far been the hallmarks of the SABC's chequered history".


Cosatu
"The  Congress of South African Trade Unions condemns the decisions of the SABC board and the minister of communications and urges the minister and the SABC board to comply with the call to review their decision endorsing the appointment".



Support Public Broadcasting Coalition (SOS Coalition)
"Where was the fair, transparent and public appointment process we were promised by the ministry?" asks the SOS Coalition.

"The post was not advertised and, as such, no thorough recruitment process was followed". The SOS Coalition says Hlaudi Motsoeneng's permanent COO appointment will "further undermine the stability and credibility of the SABC".


Public Protector Thuli Madonsela
Thuli Madonsela told eNCA (DStv 403) that Hlaudi Motsoeneng "lied to the SABC about having a matric certificate. He admitted to me, and I have a recorded interview with him".

"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".

"The SABC board chairperson Ellen Zandile Tshabalala has written to me several times requesting extra time to submit and implementation plan".

"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".


Broadcasting, Electronic Media and Allied Workers Union (Bemawu)
Bemawu says it is "shocked" by the unprocedural appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

Bemawu says it demands "that the appointment be reversed and due process be followed, failing which we will legally challenge the recruitment process".


Dali Mpofu, former SABC CEO
Dali Mpofu, a former SABC CEO told Alec Hogg on CNBC Africa (DStv 410) that "All I can say is that it's pathetic when we get to a situation where skills are not valued, where the message that we send to young people is that you don't have to work hard to get those degrees or to acquire those skills - all you need is to be connected".

"I always say that even if you are going to employ people who agree with you politically, first and foremost, they must have the skills to do what they have to do".

"It discredits the whole notion of transformation if you're literally going to grab some guy from the taxi rank".

"The job of SABC COO is a very complex job. The job of the COO at the SABC is even more complex than the CEO's job, so I don't understand how anyone who allegedly does not have matric can even do it at all".


DA
The Democratic Alliance (DA) political party in a statement calls Hlaudi Motsoeneng's appointment as SABC COO "a dark day for democracy".

"Hlaudi Motsoeneng has been given a renewed mandate to continue his reign of terror at the public broadcaster," says Gavin Davis, the DA shadow minister of communications.

"We can expect more surveillance and purging of SABC staff, more clampdowns on editorial independence and more 'happy news' that reflects positively on the governing party".

"Hlaudi Motsoeneng should have been suspended and disciplined following the Public Protector's report, not promoted. Hlaudi Motsoeneng has earned a reputation as a Goebbels-like figure at the centre of President Jacob Zuma's propaganda machine".


EFF
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political party in a statement says it is "distraught by Hlaudi Motsoeneng's appointment.

"Hlaudi Motsoeneng does not deserve to be COO, because he is a liar and a conman," says EFF member of parliament Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.


Afriforum
The civil rights group Afriforum says in a statement the shocking appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as SABC COO is "a further example of disrespect for the constitution and constitutional institutions that exist to protect the public against abuse of power and mismanagement".