South Africa: SABC to re-interview for a news chief

The selection of a head of news at the SABC will go ahead as planned with the interview panel resuming its assessment of four candidates for the position, a senior staff member close to the broadcaster’s board confirmed yesterday.

 

Trade unions and industry bodies who form part of the Save Our SABC (SOS) c ampaign yesterday welcomed the resumption of interviews for the head of news. They congratulated the board on its attempts to “remedy the serious corporate governance breaches at the SABC” with regard to the appointment of Phil Molefe to the post.

 

 

The staff member said yesterday that the board, which suspended acting CEO and commercial enterprises division head Gab Mampone for failing to act on mismanagement and fraud, is determined to pursue what it sees as its legal mandate — to appoint executive management at the broadcaster.

 

 

The board apparently has the support of the SABC’s shareholder, Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda, who has met the board twice in recent weeks. “The board’s right to appoint a head of news has never been contested by the minister,” the staff member said.

 

 

The key issue at the meeting last week, however, was allegedly not Mr Molefe’s appointment, but the SABC’s financial situation.

 

 

Statements for the past financial year said to have been seen by the board suggest that while the broadcaster has reduced its losses substantially, its continuing losses are a matter for concern, particularly for the government, which issued it with a R1bn guarantee.

 

 

The SABC still has to submit its turnaround plan before a further R473m guarantee will be provided.

 

 

SOS yesterday appealed to the SABC for greater transparency with regard to problems at the broadcaster. “SABC’s main stakeholder is the public so it needs to ensure that its decision making and governance processes are transparent to the general public,” SOS said.

 

 

The SABC’s spending with regard to the World Cup has come under the spotlight with reports in Parliament that R3,3m was spent on 2000 World Cup tickets. This brought objections from opposition parties which felt the cost was not justified, even for promotional purposes.

 

 

Parliament recently heard that the SABC paid R14m to rent space in the Sandton Convention Centre after the SABC turned down space at the Nasrec broadcast centre. The SABC later changed its mind but Nasrec was fully booked by then.

 

 

The broadcaster then reapproached Sandton Convention Centre for space. The rate was halved after negotiations.

 

 

Meanwhile, the SABC yesterday issued an interim request for programming, calling for local programming proposals in specific television content genres.

 

 

This was part of the process towards normalising content commissioning and procurement procedures begun under the current SABC board, it said.

 

 

The SABC’s Kaizer Kganyago said the board was reviewing outstanding payment issues and expected them to be resolved shortly.

 

 

 

 

benjaminc@bdfm.co.za

 

- June 29, 2010 by Chantelle Benjamin

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Source: www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx (30.06.10)