SABC petition to SCA a futile waste of taxpayers’ money

22 June 2016

The SABC is expected to formally petition the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to have the invalidation of Mr Motsoeoneng’s permanent appointment by Dennis J overturned. This is the latest in a 2-year long legal battle by Mr Motsoeneng and the SABC to keep him in office despite a laundry list of infractions that clearly show that Mr Motsoeneng was never an appropriate candidate to hold the Office of the COO in the first place.

Specifically Judge Dennis Davis of the Western Cape High Court found that “On any plausible basis, to ignore a binding report and appoint the person to a permanent position when that person is required to be subjected to disciplinary action, pursuant to their conduct as an acting COO, is manifestly an act of irrationality which stands to be set aside.”

Independently from that finding Judge Davis also assertred that the Minister had not properly applied her mind to the appointment and made this appointment “without careful and deliberate examination”, and having “ignored a binding set of findings which required immediate remedial attention”. As a result of the above, it was impossible for the Minister to have rationally concluded that the appointment should be made.

That Mr Motsoeneng still holds this office is indicative of the contempt the ANC and government agencies have for the Rule of Law and due process. It is this contempt for constitutional imperatives that has permeated the SABC even informing their draconian decision not to broadcast footage of any protest action or the reading out of newspaper headlines on SABC broadcast platforms.

At present the SABC is the subject of separate legal action to make public their reasons for not showing footage of service delivery protests and thereby failing to give effect to their statutory obligation to operate in the public interest.

The DA supports all action to ensure that the SABC upholds its mandate and that our public broadcaster is never used as a party political instrument to protect the ANC and the connected few.

We are confident that the SCA will dismiss any petition in relation to this matter which will result in Mr Motsoeneng occupying this very important position of SABC’s COO.

Issued by James Selfe, Chairperson of the DA's Federal Executive, 22 June 2016