DA files founding affidavit to have Motsoeneng removed from SABC permanently

12 October 2016

The DA has today filed its founding affidavit in the Western Cape High Court to have the appointment of the former SABC COO, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, as Group Executive of Corporate Affairs declared invalid. In so doing we are asking the courts to make a determination that Mr Motsoeneng is not a fit and proper person to hold any position at the SABC.

Specifically, “this application seeks to finally remove Mr Motsoeneng from the SABC and prevent him from serving in any senior position in the SABC unless and until the Public Protector’s damning findings about his conduct and character are reviewed and set aside.”

This is hot off the heels of Mr Motsoeneng’s recent appointment as the Group Executive: Corporate Affairs at the SABC. A senior position on the SABC’s Executive Committee.  He has also stated that he intends to apply for the vacant COO post. The majority of the members of the dysfunctional SABC Board have indicated they continue to support Mr Motsoeneng which we contend is irrational and not in the spirit of existing rulings on this point.

The DA maintains that Mr Motsoeneng is a threat to South African democracy. He is an unethical, manipulative fraudster who has destroyed any semblance of good corporate governance at the SABC. Moreover, he is a modern day “Goebbels” who treats the public broadcaster as his personal fiefdom to spread propaganda.

While the Board should have taken steps to remove him in the interest of the SABC, when they appeared before the Portfolio Committee on Communications they refused to see that Mr Motsoeneng could no longer continue as an employee of the public broadcaster.

In fact the remaining six members of the Board have refused to rescind their support for Mr Motsoeneng. Instead they complained that they are being “bullied” by Parliament and vowed to resist any inquiry into their fitness for office.

In doing so, they have defied the Public Protector, the Judiciary, and Parliament.  This must come to an end because no man is above the law.  The only way to stop Mr Motsoeneng is for the Courts to remove him from his current position and prevent him from holding any other public position.

As such we are also asking the Court for a declaration that the SABC Board is not only inquorate  - it has only six members and requires nine for a quorum with the remaining members refusing to resign to allow an interim Board to be appointed - but that it too has aided and abetted the sharp decline of the public broadcaster. 

Appreciating that Parliament has asserted that it will institute an inquiry it is imperative that we obtain a court order expressly stating that Mr Motsoeneng is unsuitable to serve the SABC in any capacity at the SABC.

To date the DA has won every single stage of the litigation against Mr Motsoeneng and the SABC.  The Western Cape High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) have repeatedly held that it is irrational and unlawful for Mr Motsoeneng to serve as COO. It is unfathomable that the Board continues to support him.

It is never ideal to approach our nations Judiciary on these matters but has become necessary in the face of uncooperative government agencies who refuse to give effect to their statutory obligations to operate in the public interest.

It was the ANC’s installation of Mr Motsoeoeng and the SABC Board that has led us to this current situation and they ought to honour their recent overtures to never again be on the wrong side of the Constitution and the Rule of Law. ANC Chief Whip, Jackson Mthembu, must therefore give effect to his utterances and the ANC must publicly support the DA’s court action in this regard if they are at all serious about restoring the credibility of our public broadcaster.

The DA is committed to restoring the integrity and independence of the SABC, and the first step, is to ensure that it has the right leadership. As such, it will participate fully in in all processes to re-establish the credibility and integrity of the public broadcaster.

Issued by James Selfe, Chairperson of the DA's Federal Executive, 12 October 2016