Hlaudi Motsoeneng

Cape High Court dismisses SABC appeal to keep COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng

The Western Cape High Court originally ruled that Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s appointment as SABC COO by communications minister Faith Muthambi was irrational, and has now upheld that ruling.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng

Motsoeneng, who’s been running the SABC like his own personal bank teller, has been at the centre of controversy at the bankrupt national broadcaster for some time.

The SABC and Motsoeneng applied for leave to appeal the Western Cape High Court’s ruling against his appointment, but the court denied their application on Monday; upholding its earlier ruling that Motsoeneng’s appointment was irrational and unlawful.

 “It was found that the SABC was legally obliged to suspend Mr Motsoeneng pending disciplinary proceedings to be brought against him,” the DA said in a statement following the dismissal of the application.

“This is an indictment of Minister Muthambi who shown persistent disregard for the Rule of Law and has managed the SABC as her personal fiefdom, subject only to her patron President Jacob Zuma.”

At the time of handing down his judgement, Judge Dennis Davis said the information given to communications minister Faith Muthambi at the time of Motsoeneng’s appointment was “muddled and unclear” which put her “in no position to exercise a rational decision to elevate Mr Motsoeneng, whose tenure as acting COO had already been placed in severe doubt.”

The DA added that the court’s ruling is in line with what the Public Protector originally found in her investigation of Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

Thuli Madonsela’s 2014 report found that Hlaudi Motsoeneng:

  • Lied about his qualifications when applying for the COO position
  • Acted in bad faith and abused his power by increasing his salary three times in the space of one year; from R1.5 million to R2.4 million
  • Was responsible for the “purging” of senior staff that cost the SABC “millions of Rand due to procedural and substantive injustices confirmed in findings of the CCMA and the courts.”
  • Irregularly increased the salaries of various staff members, increasing the SABC’s salary bill by R29 million.

“Knowing all this, Minister Muthambi still went ahead and permanently appointed a man who was clearly not suitable for the job,” the DA said.