SACP welcomes long-overdue SABC board chairperson's resignation

The SACP notes and welcomes the resignation of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Chairperson Ms Ellen Tshabalala. This is long overdue. It also did not have to consume public resources in the form of the processes undertaken both by Parliament and the courts as a result of Ms Tshabalala seeking to prevent the truth that she did not have the qualifications she claimed to have from being known.

The resignation must lay the basis to solve the many other problems besieging the SABC, including a thorough scrutiny of and focus on the decisions taken when Ms Tshabalala was busy wasting time by refusing to step down. It is important to rescue the credibility of the public broadcaster by dealing with all well-known outstanding issues and decisions which emit a distinctly unpleasant odour.

The SABC has been facing persistent problems for a long time now. This includes serious setbacks in fulfilling its legal and other mandates as well as chronic governance and management issues. The SACP reiterates its strategic perspective that:

"There has to be a paradigm shift on the understanding of public service broadcasting against the mindset informed by market forces. Public service broadcasting must be protected against the interests of private corporate culture, market domination and commercial interests" including tenderpreneurs.

Statement issued by the SACP, December 17 2014

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter