ANC YOUTH LEAGUE STATEMENT ON THE SABC BOARD'S DECISION TO SUSPEND GCEO SOLLY MOKOETLE:

31 August 2010

The African National Congress Youth League has been quite for a considerable amount of time on management and corporate governance issues in the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). We were quite not because we did not have views, but because we strongly believe that the SABC Board should be given space to manage and oversee all management and corporate governance issues in the SABC, including overseeing the turnaround strategy.

But because the suspended Group Chief Executive Officer, Comrade Solly Mokoetle is using the Military Veterans Association to fight internal management and board issues (see here), we are compelled to call for calm heads and allow the SABC Board to manage its own issues without perceptions of undue pressure from outside organizations, which have no clue of what is happening in the SABC.

The SABC Board carries a mammoth task and responsibility to ensure that the Public Broadcaster is efficiently managed by accountable, frank and diligent managers and reserve every right to call for accountability whenever is necessary. The fact that the statement of the MKMVA is 100% similar to what the suspended GCEO has said to certain media houses confirms our suspicions that the suspended GCEO is opportunistically using the MKMVA to fight internal Board issues.

The ANC Youth League calls on all South Africans and all progressive formations to allow the SABC Board manage its own issues without undue and baseless pressure, and also calls on the suspended GCEO to decently present his side of the story to the Board, and stop entering into public mud throwing. If there is any wrong-doing on the part of Board members and the GCEO, decisive action should be taken, but mud throwing in the public discourse is not in the interest of the public broadcaster, nor in the interest of the suspended GCEO.

Statement issued by Floyd Shivambu, African National Congress Youth League spokesperson, August 31 2010

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