Motsoeneng: Minister Pule must act now to prevent another flawed SABC appointment

Reports today indicate that Hlaudi Motsoeneng, a Zuma loyalist with neither a matric certificate nor sufficient management experience, is set to be appointed as the SABC's Chief Operations Officer (COO) (see Sunday Independent report). 

The SABC is currently in a process of restructuring following years of poor financial management, instability in its senior management and political interference in its board and functions. 

A strong, independent leadership team is now needed to steer the entity.  And it is quite clear that Mr Motsoeneng should not be part of it.

I will today write to Minister Pule to urge that she meets with the SABC board to interrogate the highly irregular recruitment process that led to Mr Motsoeneng being earmarked for the COO post, and to see that Mr Motsoeneng is removed from the list of potential candidates. 

The COO position has reportedly only been advertised internally, prospective candidates have been given just three working days to apply and requirements regarding academic qualifications have apparently been removed from the job advertisement to pave the way for the appointment of Mr Motsoeneng, who does not have a matric certificate. 

There are a number of reasons why we believe that Mr Motsoeneng is not fit to serve in a senior management position at the public broadcaster. These include:

• The lack of clarity around the processes followed in his appointment as acting COO in November 2011;
• the lack of transparency in this round of recruitment for a permanent appointment to the COO position; 
• the fact that an internal audit in 2006 revealed that Mr Motsoeneng falsified his qualifications in his initial application to the SABC, having claimed that he passed matric when in fact he had failed twice;
• Mr Motsoeneng's previous dismissal from the SABC for breaching SABC rules - a dismissal that was apparently endorsed by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA);
• the findings of an internal audit at the SABC's Bloemfontein office which revealed that, in his former position as Lesedi FM current affairs executive producer, Mr Motsoeneng was "unable to rise above office politics" affecting "both newsroom staff and the SABC's image"; and
• his reported ties to President Jacob Zuma which seemed to indicate that his appointment is part of the ongoing Zumafication of key state positions.

Mr Motsoeneng's permanent appointment to a top management position would send a clear signal that political patronage, rather than improved performance, will continue to guide the work of those managing the SABC. 

Minister Pule must prove to the South African people that she will not allow the SABC to continue to be abused for political ends. She must act now to prevent Mr Motsoeneng's appointment. 

Statement issued by Natasha Michael MP, DA Shadow Minister of Communications, January 29 2012

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