JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – JUNE 30: The SABC building on June 30, 2009, in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images / Business Day / Tyrone Arthur)
ANC berates SABC for incompetent management
The ruling party has had enough of the SABC board’s shenanigans; with the ANC’s Jackson Mthembu saying that the broadcaster keeps “moving from one crisis to another,” hinting at possible changes in senior management.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – JUNE 30: The SABC building on June 30, 2009, in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images / Business Day / Tyrone Arthur)
Jackson Mthembu, the ANC’s chief whip in parliament and communications sub-committee chairperson got straight to the point after calling communications minister Faith Muthambi to answer for the chaos the national broadcaster finds itself in.
“I can assure you that at the highest managerial level, we are lacking. That is why we keep moving from one crisis to another,” Mthembu said while chatting to journalists about press freedom and the SABC.
He added that the national broadcaster’s got to start employing people who know what they’re doing, specifically pointing out the SABC’s former CEO Peter Matlare who, according to Mthembu, ran the corporation like a smooth engine.
According to News24, Mthembu tasked minister Muthambi with turning around the SABC, by hiring skilled people who can fix the institution.
“We are not saying this dismissing the good quality we have at other levels… We have said to all our appointed ministers at communication, you need to assure that we have people who know how to run an institution as big as the SABC at the highest level. You can’t bring in any Tom, Dick and Harry to run such an elite institution.”
“When you appoint at the highest level, please do so properly and follow the law. We are not happy about the expertise at the SABC,” he said.
The whip then took aim at the SABC’s controversial COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng, saying that the constant court battles — most of which revolve around Motsoeneng and his actions – have “led to the collapse of the institution.”
“We want people who are qualified to lead at the SABC.”
Mthembu added that it is the ANC’s view that the ruling party has been suffering the consequences of the ‘negative’ institutional culture at the SABC and that this has to come to an end.
