SABC board would be well within its rights to conduct inquiry into performance of the CEO; even to sack him

The ANC lost no time in claiming that SABC Group CEO Dali Mpofu's successful court application against his suspension vindicates their attack on the SABC Board.

But Adv. Mpofu's victory rests on the judge's ruling that the convening of the Board meeting was procedurally flawed, and the way the ANC convened the Portfolio Committee Meeting in which it passed a Vote of No Confidence in the Board was nothing short of farcical. The way that the ANC then conducted that meeting was a travesty of procedural fairness, causing the Democratic Alliance (DA) to walk out in disgust.

Parliament would be severely embarrassed if that meeting ever went to court. The SABC Board, as the appointing authority of the three executive Board members, is not only fully within its rights to enquire into Adv. Mpofu's ability to do his job efficiently, but it has a duty to do so, and the power to sack him. 

No private sector CEO would have survived the loss of two sets of sports rights, and in addition, his actions relating to two free speech issues (the blacklisting saga and the South African National Editors' Forum position after the Sunday Times court case) call into question his suitability for the public broadcaster.

He described free speech as "a foreign frigid feelingless freedom" in a characteristically wild letter to Sanef. The SABC is founded on free speech. The old SABC Board protected Mpofu and News Head, Snuki Zikalala. It is high time that the new Board took action.

Statement issued by Dene Smuts MP, Democratic Alliance spokesperson for communications May 19 2008