Supreme Court Calls for SABC Chief Suspension, Backs Madonsela

BLOEMFONTEIN – The South African Broadcasting Corporation chief Hlaudi Motsoeneng should be suspended while a disciplinary hearing is conducted into his alleged breaches – a huge salary increase and fake matric papers – according to a Supreme Court of Appeal Court ruling on Thursday.

Motsoeneng‚ the SABC and the Communications Minister had challenged a lower court’s decision that, following a report by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, a disciplinary hearing should take place and that Motsoeneng be suspended from his post until the hearing’s outcome.

The Supreme Court, in affirming the lower court’s decision, made special mention of the public prosecutor’s role in South Africa and called it “a venerable one”, and said that if any remedial action was taken by the public prosecutor it should not be ignored.

The appeal stems from a report by Madonsela in February 2014 detailing, as the Supreme Court noted in a statement on Thursday, “pathological corporate governance deficiencies at the SABC‟ and singling out Motsoeneng, who was acting COO at the time, for particularly scathing criticism.

The report had found, among other things, that Motsoeneng’s appointment as acting COO at the SABC was irregular, his salary progression from R1,5 million to R2,4 million in one fiscal year was irregular and that he had fraudulently misrepresented to the SABC that he had a matric qualification.

On 7 July 2014, the court said, the SABC and the Communications Minister, instead of taking Madonsela’s recommendation, appointed Motsoeneng as COO. The Supreme Court said the justification for ignoring Madonsela’s report was that a private law firm had done its own investigation and had exonerated Motsoeneng.

Clearly coming down in Madonsela’s favour, the Supreme Court said that anyone affected by a ruling by the public protector “is not entitled to embark on a parallel investigation process … and adopt the position that the outcome of that parallel process trumps the findings, decision or remedial action taken by the Public Protector”.

The Democratic Alliance went to court over the matter, demanding that Motoeneng be suspended and there be a disciplinary hearing – both of which were granted by the lower court and on appeal on Thursday – and the second was to set aside Motsoeneng’s appointment, which matter is still before the Cape Town court.

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— Hlaudi Motsoenėng (@SABC_COO) May 30, 2015