Sanef calls on President Ramaphosa to urgently finalise appointment of SABC board
The South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has called on President Ramaphosa to prioritize the appointment of a new SABC board, saying it shares in concerns that the public broadcaster is at risk of financial ruin.
The previous board’s term of office came to an end last October, and the appointment of a new one has since been beset by delay after delay.
After months of to-and-fro between the President and the Parliament over the list of recommended candidates put forward, and the lawfulness of the inclusion of a “reserve pool”, it’s now been agreed that these three additional candidates will be cut.
Questions raised by former Communications Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni around the impact of the King Report on Corporate Governance and the inclusion of former head of news Phathiswa Magopeni on the final list are now stalling the process.
Industry watchdog Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) has turned to the Constitutional Court with an urgent bid to try and force the President’s hand.
In the papers, MMA says against the backdrop of its ailing financial health, the SABC could “slide perilously close to insolvency” without a board.
Sanef, in a statement released on Thursday, has echoed these sentiments, saying this would undermine the progress made by the previous board to stabilize the public broadcaster.
In his response to the MMA’s case which was filed last week, the President maintains he could not make appointments on the basis of what he labels the “unlawful” candidate list sent to him last year.
And Sanef has expressed concern over this.
Meanwhile, regarding the questions around the inclusion of Magopeni on the list of candidates, Sanef says Parliament’s done its due diligence and interrogated her recommendation and that it’s found she’s an appropriate candidate.
The organisation says it’s “seriously troubled by the endless delays” in the process, despite Parliament’s recommendations of prospective qualifying candidates to do the job.
-EWN
In other news – Watch: Unknown family invades AKA’s grave
Social media users who are continuously at Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes graveyard for content cause outrage. The latest TikTok video shows a group of people taking pictures next to the grave for social media engagements.
The situation has rather intensified as more ‘megacy’ fans continue to post social media content while at Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes graveyard. Whether it is still the love they have for the late AKA or pure obsession for social media clouts. Some people have shown that they will stop at nothing to invade and flaunt their content whilst next to AKA’s grave. Learn More
