SABC IN CHAOS & CRISIS: 6 FURTHER SABC BOARD RESIGNATIONS ROCK BROADCASTER IN MELTDOWN.

The SABC in chaos & crisis: 6 further SABC board members have resigned as the struggling public broadcaster is continuing the biggest public meltdown in top executive ranks the South African Broadcasting Corporation has ever seen.

SABC board members Lumko Mtide, John Danana, Cedric Gina, Desmond Golding, Adv. Cawe Mahlati and Noluthando Gosa has now all quit and sent resignation letters and are following the SABC chairperson dr.Ben Ngubane and deputy chairperson Thami Ka Plaatjie out the door.

"President Jacob Zuma has received six more letters of resignation from members of the South African Broadcasting Corporation," says the office of the presidency in a just-issued statement.

"The president has accepted their resignations."

The office of the presidency says "the president has requested the minister of communications, Dina Pule, to liaise with the national assembly regarding the process to fill the vacancies left by the members who have resigned."

The SABC has now been truly plunged into the biggest executive and management chaos and crisis the broadcaster has ever experienced.

The SABC board - what's left of it can't function or meet, there is no clarity on whether the matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng is or isn't still the acting chief operating officer (COO) - his removal by the SABC of which instigated the crisis and plunged the broadcaster into the meltdown it's experiencing.

With six of the nine last remaining SABC board members now also gone, only three SABC board members are left. The SABC is now functioning without any governing body.

SABC IN CHAOS & CRISIS: 'The decision stands' says SABC board about Hlaudi Motsoeneng's removal; minister says he must remain.

The SABC in chaos & crisis: The biggest crisis the embattled and directionless South African Broadcasting Corporation has ever faced continues - without any leadership and instead with more added drama and controversy heaped as further fuel onto the raging fire which is the SABC's top management in meltdown.

Utter chaos and a total corporate governance collapse is reigning at the public broadcaster with the minister of communications, Dina Pule, who made further shocking remarks to add to the confusion and scandal at the broadcaster shen she told SABC radio in an interview that the matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng who was removed as acting chief operating officer (COO) will remain in the  position.

Shortly after her remarks, the SABC board fought back with the response that "the decision to remove Hlaudi Motsoeneng stands".

Complete confusion and massive uncertainty reigns at Africa's last remaining so-called "public broadcaster" as state control is clearly tightening over the SABC where over the past two years, the long-suspected but never overt, government control became sharply evident in the SABC's management and broadcasting decisions.

The SABC is mired in a vicious and very public top level power battle and tug-of-war. The hugest crises the SABC ever faced was triggered 3 weeks ago when the SABC board, through a consensus decision removed the matricless enfant terrible Hlaudi Motsoeneng from his position of acting chief operating officer (COO). He was replaced by Mike Siluma.

Three days later Mike Siluma resigned. Other SABC board members - such as SABC chairperson dr. Ben Ngubane and deputy chairperson Thami ka Plaatjie - were then involved in unilaterally "reinstating" Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

The SABC board publicly rebuked dr Ben Ngubane who has been described as "autocratic" and "patriarcal" in his leadership style and tenure and said dr. Ben Ngubane and Thami Ka Plaatjie don't have the authority to make such a unilateral decision.

This past Sunday dr. Ben Ngubane and deputy chairperson Thami Ka Plaatjie both quit.

Now Dina Pule, herself mired in scandals, told SABC radio that the matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng remains in the position of acting COO at the SABC because the SABC board was not properly constituted when it met.

The SABC board shot back and said the decision to terminate the matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng as acting COO "stands".

"The board meeting [on 25 February] was properly constituted and the decision to release Hlaudi Motsoeneng from acting chief operating officer stands," says the SABC board.

Why Dina Pule as a state minister is interfering with the SABC board's decisions is not clear, nor why she had a long meeting with dr. Ben Ngubane and Thami Ka Plaatjie and asked them to reconsider not quitting.

The SABC is a public broadcaster and not a state broadcaster and therefore answers to parliament and falls under the oversight of parliament's portfolio committee of communications - not the department of communications or a government department.

The SABC board is now unable to meet because it no longer has the necessary number of members following the resignation of dr. Ben Ngubane and Thami Ka Plaatjie.

SABC IN CHAOS & CRISIS: 'SABC is a national embarrassment, run like a spaza shop, stranded in a sea of incompetence and sinking.'

The SABC in chaos & crisis: Reaction is piling in on the biggest headline-making story the crises and scandal riddled SABC has ever experienced in the South African public broadcaster's history, as massive public infighting and a vicious tug-of-war has engulfed the beleaguered institution where's its top executive and management is fighting an all-out war.

The destructive, dysfunctional and destabilising SABC board is in freefall after it terminated his tenure and removed the matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng as acting chief operating officer (COO).

That was followed by SABC board chairperson dr. Ben Ngubane and deputy Thami Ka Plaatjie "reinstating" Hlaudi Motsoeneng; and then both dr. Ben Ngubane and Thami Ka Plaatjie quitting over the weekend after the SABC board publicly told them they don't have the authority to "reinstate" Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

South Africa's TV industry is transfixed by the biggest scandal at the SABC as the latest farce continues to grow even bigger.


IFP in a press statement TODAY:
"As South Africans we are required by law to pay TV licences and we therefore have the right to challenge and question the SABC. Why should South Africans be required to pay a public broadcaster that is a national embarrassment, is run like a spaza shop, stranded in a sea of incompetence, while the ship is sinking?"

"The latest SABC scandal playing itself out in the public arena - the chief operating officer crisis, the new rift in the SABC board coupled with allegations that communications minister Dina Pule has motivated for the re-instatement of disgraced COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng - has only served to bolster the SABC's nickname "Faulty Towers" by reaffirming that it has not managed to rid itself of the never-ending cycle of incompetence and mismanagement at the highest levels."

"This is only the latest public example of the malaise at the SABC. Despite the removal of the entire SABC board a few years ago, sadly, new SABC board members have not been able to stem the crisis."

"There can be no doubt that the ongoing process of the politicization of the public broadcaster lies at the very heart of the SABC's protracted crisis."


SOS Coalition in a press statement TODAY:
"Both the SABC chairperson and the SABC deputy chairperson have resigned following the quarrel over the position of the COO at the SABC. This places both governance and management of the corporation in crisis."

"The SOS Coalition members are in agreement that an emergency parliamentary hearing is essential. Parliament needs to investigate the SABC board, ministerial interference, the Special Investigations Unit report, the SABC management and the lacuna in the Broadcasting Act."


Congress of the People's (COPE) spokesperson Juli Killian TODAY:
"Dr. Ben Ngubane and Thami Ka Plaatjie's legacy of usurping executive powers and interfering in the corporations'd daily running will haunt the broadcaster.

Dr. Ben Ngubane would be remembered for his "autocratic style of leadership" and his failure to turn the SABC around and root out corruption and insider trading. The minister responsible should take her cue from the duo and immediately resign from office, failing which the president should dismiss Dina Pule without further delay."


Democratic Alliance (DA) spokesperson Marian Shinn TODAY:
"President Jacob Zuma must accept the resignations and allow them to leave as soon as possible. Under dr. Ben Ngubane's leadership a number of appropriately experienced people, committed to restoring the SABC to a credible, financially stable public broadcaster serving all South Africans, resigned from the board in frustration because of his dictatorial style and his inability or unwillingness to prevent political interference in the broadcaster's editorial content."

"His unwavering support for Hlaudi Motsoeneng as acting COO – who was both unqualified and unsuitable for the job – further divided the operations of the corporation, and eroded its reputation.

Turning the SABC around should be the key priority. I trust that the rest of the board will remain for stability's stake and that a chairperson, who is politically neutral and with solid credentials in corporate governance, can be found to take the SABC forward."


Dina Pule, the minister of communications' spokesperson Sipho Qoza TODAY:
"Dina Pule has been quite concerned about the goings-on at the board at the SABC.


Mac Maharaj, presidency spokesperson TODAY:
"The matter is receiving the attention of the president. He is aware of the urgency and the nature of the problem and he will be giving it the attention it requires."

SABC IN CHAOS & CRISIS: SABC reports that Ben Ngubane and Thami Ka Plaatjie are 'locked in a meeting' with Dina Pule.

The SABC in chaos & crisis: With the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in utter meltdown as the broadcaster's top executive and management is tearing South Africa's public broadcaster apart from the inside right from the very top, SABC television reported on the latest salvo - the resignation of SABC chairperson dr. Ben Ngubane and deputy chairperson Thami Ka Plaatjie - on Monday evening.

On the News @ 7 on SABC3, news anchor Vabakshnee Chetty informed the nation that Dina Pule, South Africa's communications minister "is locked in a meeting with dr. Ben Ngubane and his deputy Thami Ka Plaatjie after they've resigned as SABC board chairperson and deputy chairperson".

"President Jacob Zuma received a joint letter of resignation from dr. Ben Ngubane and Thami Ka Plaatjie. The president's office is considering the resignations."

"In a protracted meeting, minister Dina Pule wants the duo to withdrawn their resignations," reported the SABC. "The precise reasons for the resignations is not known. Last week the SABC board announced that Hlaudi Motsoeneng's tenure as acting chief operating officer (COO) had been terminated."

"It was reported later that dr. Ben Ngubane had said that Hlaudi Motsoeneng had in fact been reinstated. Today the presidency confirmed that their resignation letters had been received."

"Only the president has the power to appoint or dismiss the chairperson and the deputy chairperson of the SABC board. Several political parties have asked the president to dismiss the SABC board," the SABC reported.

BREAKING. Dr Ben Ngubane, Thami ka Plaatjie quit as SABC chairperson and deputy chairperson of SABC board.

Dr. Ben Ngubane, the controversial chairperson of the SABC and the SABC board has quit as well as Thami Ka Plaatjie, the deputy chairperson of the SABC board who also quit.

Both dr Ben Ngubane and Thami ka Plaatjie plunged the beleaguered South African public broadcaster into its biggest top executive and top management crisis ever when they unilaterally tried to "reappoint" the matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng as the acting chief operating officer (COO) at the SABC three days after the rest of the SABC board removed Hlaudi Motsoeneng from the position.

The resignation of dr. Ben Ngubane as well as the resignation of Thami Ka Plaatjie over the weekend comes amidst unbearable stress and conflict on SABC board level, where "corporate governance has disintegrated completely," according to statements made last week by parliament.

Parliament's portfolio committee on communications, the body tasked with oversight of the SABC last week said that "anarchy" was reigning at the highest level at the SABC and that "Auckland Park was on fire".

Dr. Ben Ngubane quitting the SABC, followed by the resignation letter of Thami Ka Plaatjie follows the severly destructive infighting at the highest executive and management levels of the beleaguered SABC which the past few years remained mired in scandal, corruption, allegations of scandal and the one leaderless management blunder after another.

Parliament's portfolio committee on communications has been asked by several political parties as well as civil society public pressure groups such as the SOS Coalition, a broad-based public interest group supporting public broadcasting, to have an emergency meeting with and about the SABC in the coming week to save the struggling broadcaster where the leadership structure is disintegrating from the very top.

Now, with both dr. Ben Ngubane and Thami Ka Plaatjie gone, the SOS Coalition calls the situation at the SABC "desperate".

The SABC didn't immediately respond to a media enquiry made on Sunday night.

SABC IN CHAOS & CRISIS. The feuding SABC board meets with communications minister; parliament admits: 'Auckland Park is on fire!'

A public broadcaster in chaos and in crisis: The beleaguered South African public broadcaster - sadly no stranger for years now to controversy, scandal, rampant power abuse, financial mismanagement, factionalism, corruption and vicious infighting - saw its wayward top management and feuding SABC board lurch forward today with the latest chapter of a shocking public spectacle - an upper echelon tug-of-war eclipsing any power struggle the SABC has ever seen before.

While the SABC board met with the minister of communications, Dina Pule, today who is publicly and blatantly questioning "the fitness of the SABC board to remain in office", parliament's portfolio committee on communications - the government body tasked with oversight of the SABC - also met to urgently talk about the latest shocking management scandal engulfing the SABC; its chairperson Eric Kholwane saying that "Auckland Park is on fire!"

Dina Pule met with the SABC board this morning and afterwards called for an "urgent" review of the SABC board following massive breaches of corporate governance taking place at the highest levels of management at the South African public broadcaster.

The feuding SABC board and its chairperson dr. Ben Ngubane has plunged the SABC into the worst management crisis and good governance implosion the SABC has ever experienced.

To make it worse is the whole disgusting saga is playing out in full public view of an agast South African TV industry looking on at the latest incredulous scandal damaging what remains of the broadcaster's public image.

The massively destructive disaster started a week ago when the SABC board by consensus decision and without the SABC chairperson dr. Ben Ngubane present, decided to remove Hlaudi Motsoeneng, who famously doesn't have matric, as acting chief operating officer (COO).

Mike Siluma was appointed as the new acting COO at  the SABC. Mike Siluma promptly quit three days later on Friday.

Dr. Ben Ngubane and deputy chairperson Thami ka Plaatjie then unilaterally "reinstated'" Hlaudi Motsoeneng as acting COO.

The SABC board came out publicly and poured blatant scorn on the autocratic decision-making, saying that neither dr. Ben Ngubane, nor Thami ka Plaatjie, nor both, had the right or authority to make such a unilateral decision and that Hlaudi Motsoeneng is definitely not the acting COO again.

Now its the SABC top executive hitters against the SABC's top executive hitters slugging it out in vicious, public and dirty infighting tearing the struggling broadcaster further apart and this time right from the very top.

On Tuesday evening the SABC's flagship news bulletin, the News @ 7 held with the SABC board's point of view and reported that "the SABC board's decision to terminate Hlaudi Motsoeneng's tenure as acting chief operating officer remains in place."


'Auckland Park is on fire!'
On Tuesday morning two parallel meetings were underway trying to get control, and to grips with the staggering management crisis at the SABC - one between Dina Pule and the SABC board, and the other parliament's portfolio committee on communications.

In a press statement Dina Pule said she is "most concerned about the latest breaches of corporate governance that are playing themselves out in public".

Dina Pule said in the statement that she asked parliament "to advise if they believe this SABC board is helping the government to deliver on its mandate to give South Africans access to quality public broadcasting."

Dina Pule called the meeting because the SABC board has so many governance issues they're simply not agreeing on.

"We need to be dealing with the issues which have been playing themselves out in the media. We need to understand why we have these challenges which are there. The decision of the SABC board is that Hlaudi Motsoeneng has been removed from the acting COO position.

Meanwhile in parliament member of parliament today were abuzz with the latest massive crisis gripping the broadcaster. All agreed that there are big "challenges" at the SABC.

"The SABC is in crisis. The whole nation knows that the SABC is on fire right now and I think it's our prime responsibility to discuss what the problem is and drastically and urgently suggest remedial action," said the Democratic Alliance's Marian Shinn.

"We cannot sit here and pretend that Rome is not burning. There's a crisis at the SABC," said Congress of the People's (Cope) Juli Kilian.

BREAKING. Massive executive turmoil at highest SABC level as infighting between SABC board and its chairperson is blatantly laid bare.

As shockwaves emanate about the utter dysfunction and leadership vacuum at the highest management and executive levels of the battered South African public broadcaster, the vicious infighting happening at top level behind the scenes at the beleaguered SABC is becoming painfully clear for everyone to see.

The SABC just issued another press release in which the SABC board is openly contradicting, repudiating and publicly shaming the insistence of the SABC board chairperson dr. Ben Ngubane that the removed acting chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng is again the acting COO.

Follow this quick developing story which has now become the SABC's biggest, highest level crisis circus and its biggest public embarrassement yet:

- The SABC board on Tuesday last week met to remove Hlaudi Motsoeneng as acting COO and appointed Mike Siluma as the new acting COO.
-  Mike Siluma then suddenly resigned on Friday.
-  Dr. Ben Ngubane then reappointed Hlaudi Motsoeneng who returned to the position of acting COO a mere three days after he was removed from the position.

Now the SABC issued a press statement this afternoon, from the SABC board, blatantly chastising the SABC's chairperson dr. Ben Ngubane and the SABC board deputy chairman Thami ka Plaatjie.

The SABC says in the statement that Hlaudi Motsoeneng is definitely not back as acting COO, and makes it painfully clear in a public statement (which is so embarrassing since it damages the SABC itself as it damages whatever credibility dr. Ben Ngubane has left as chairperson).

The SABC says that it "is regrettable as neither the chairman nor the deputy chairman nor both have the power or authority to unilaterally change a board resolution".

The new and latest statement from the SABC, issued by the SABC board, makes it painfully obvious that there is a massive fracturous relationship between the SABC board and the SABC board chairperson.

It show either a lack of good governance, in-fighting, or both within the highest ranks at the SABC.

Dr. Ben Ngubane did not attend the meeting on Tuesday where it was decided to remove Hlaudi Motsoeneng as acting COO. Dr. Ben Ngubane meanwhile claims that he didn't know about the decision.

Yet the SABC press statement - chillingly - goes to great length to directly spell out how only the SABC board has the power to make decisions and not dr. Ben Ngubane, and goes into eye-popping detail insofar as it spells out why dr. Ben Ngubane would have known what was going on because he was informed.

"It is critical to note that, since then, the SABC board has not met to rescind this resolution [to remove Hlaudi Motsoeneng]."

"It cannot be then that the SABC board resolution to relieve the former acting COO of his acting duties has been rescinded. The so-called 'withdrawal' of letters signed by the deputy chairman Thami ka Plaatjie (on behalf of the SABC board) does not have any effect on the SABC board resolution taken at a properly convened SABC board meeting. The resolution stands until rescinded by another properly constituted SABC board meeting."


What this all means:
The SABC board met last Tuesday in Cape Town (without dr. Ben Ngubane, but who the SABC board says knew the decision to remove Hlaudi Motsoeneng was coming because the discussion was carried over from a previous meeting).

Mike Siluma was chosen to be the new acting COO of the SABC. Mike Siluma resigns.

On Friday dr. Ben Ngubane and Thami ka Plaatjie "reappoints" Hlaudi Motsoeneng as acting COO, basically by "withdrawing" the letter that usually goes to the minister of communications to say that says someone is relieved from a position.

The SABC board now comes out publicly and says the SABC board makes these decisions not the chairperson dr. Ben Ngubane and the deputy chairperson Thami ka Plaatjie.

It shows publicly and deliberately overtly that there is division and huge conflict (to put it lightly) between the SABC board on the one side and dr. Ben Ngubane (and possibly also Thami ka Plaatjie who may or may not have simply signed a form) on the other side.

The SABC board hugely damages the SABC through what it's saying (i.e revealing the conflict and contention and the apparent lack of leadership, unilateral decision making, decision-making without due process and authority) at the highest level of decision-making at the SABC.

However, the SABC board damages dr. Ben Ngubane even more by doing this. The SABC's own board is telling its chairman through its own organisation by issuing a press release that he is wrong. In-cre-dible.

The SABC board stops short of saying it in so many words, but makes it transparent that dr. Ben Ngubane is basically involved in a power grab and overstepped boundaries he should know exists and is usurping powers to make "appointments" (change SABC board decisions) which he doesn't have.

It also shows how far the SABC has fallen. The upper management echelon of the SABC no longer seems to care to present any form of a united front (keep the dirty laundry inside), or to publicly embarrass and humiliate each other in order to "win".

Meanwhile South Africa's TV industry is gasping as it looks on at the latest shocking turn of events in a real-life supersized soap opera of epic proportions which is totally eclipsing all previous scandals and breathtaking executive circuses which have played out at the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters before.

The SABC's spokesperson called me back today after I made a media enquiry asking: Who, right at this moment, is the acting COO of the SABC? The spokesperson said he is not authorised to talk about it and that I need to contact a member of the SABC board directly. That has never ever happened before.

Settle in, because there sure to be more unbelievable, yet true, chapters coming in this fast-developing story.

SABC to advertise the position of chief operating officer (COO), currently held by the matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng, on Sunday.

The SABC's position for chief operating officer (COO) currently filled by Hlaudi Motsoeneng will be advertised on Sunday while the disciplinary hearing for the SABC's suspended chief financial officer Gugu Duda will be taking place later this month.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng has been appointed in the position as chief operating officer in a temporary acting capacity although he doesn't have matric and never passed Grade 12. The disciplinary hearing for the SABC's suspended chief financial officer Gugu Duda will be taking place in February with five days set aside for the hearing.

ALSO READ: "Now is the time for SABC to work very hard to double our efforts," says acting COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

At a hastily-arranged press conference on Friday afternoon at the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters, the SABC's deputy chairperson Thami Ka Plaatjie said that the position of chief operating officer (COO) will be advertised on Sunday after a drawn-out legal battle with the former SABC executive Mvuzo Mbebe had now been settled.

Mvuzo Mbebe took the SABC board to court and applied for an interdict at the South Gauteng High Court after he was recommended for the position of chief operating officer in July 2007 by the then SABC chairperson Eddie Funde, but never got the job.

Meanwhile Gugu Duda's disciplinary hearing will be taking place over the course of a whole week in February, she was immediately suspended in September 2012 because of alleged irregular procurement actions allegedly relating to sponsorship deals.

Tian Olivier is currently the acting chief financial officer of the SABC.

Thami Ka Plaatjie said at the press conference that the SABC which got close to the cliff of financial collapse in 2009 and was granted a government bailout of R1,47 billion in the form of a government guaranteed loan from Nedbank, is not in a sound financial position yet.

Thami Ka Plaatjie said that the SABC failed to meet all of the conditions of the government guarantee in exchange for the billion rand bailout.

"We must not fool ourselves. This doesn't mean that we've met all the conditions of the government guarantee," said Thami Ka Plaatjie.

The SABC announced that it had payed back another R416 million of the government bailout of R1,47 billion the struggling broadcaster received in 2009. The SABC now still owes R230 million on the government guaranteed loan to Nedbank.

BREAKING. SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo and chief financial officer investigated by board for spending R3 million on ICT Indaba - report

The SABC's CEO Lulama Mokhobo and the SABC's chief financial officer Gugu Duda are being investigated by the SABC board for okay-ing the spending of R3 million as a sponsorship of the department of communications' ICT Indaba in July, the Sunday Independent reports.

The SABC paid R1 million in cash and R2 million in a trade exchange for the ICT Indaba in Cape Town organised by the minister of communications Dina Pule, around which allegations of improper and conflict of interest matters have been swirling. The ICT Indaba cost R36 million.

The Sunday Independent quotes two unnamed SABC board members saying that the SABC board is "incensed" by Lulama Mokhobo and Gugu Duda's "donation".

The SABC borrowed R1,47 billion from the government in a government guaranteed loan from Nedbank in 2009, R1 billion of which the SABC has used for a drastic turnaround strategy and haven't yet paid back.

The newspaper quotes an SABC board member saying that the spending "did not have board approval". The SABC's spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago is quoted in the article as saying that Lulama Mokhobo and Gugu Duda didn't need SABC board approval to make the R3 million sponsorship of the ICT Indaba.

The SABC board member Thami Ka Plaatjie and deputy chairperson is reportedly in charge of investigating Lulama Mokhobo and Gugu Duda and the R3 million sponsorship.

BREAKING. Thami Ka Plaatjie the newewst SABC board member and the new deputy chairperson of the SABC board.

Thami Ka Plaatjie is the newest SABC board member and now the SABC's deputy chairperson of the SABC board after president Jacob Zuma rubber stamped his appointment.

Thami Ka Plaatjie replaces Peter Harris who suddenly, surprisingly, resigned last year following infighting and power struggles within the SABC board. Thami Ka Plaatjie is a non-executive member of the SABC board.

"I wish Thami Ka Plaatjie all the best in his new responsibilities and we are confident that he will serve to the best of his ability," says president Jacob Zuma said in a statement.