DA wins court application to have Hlaudi Motsoeneng suspended pending inquiry

The DA is pleased to announce that the Western Cape High Court has, once again, ruled in our favour and granted our application to have SABC COO, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, suspended pending a disciplinary inquiry into his conduct, as per the Public Protector’s recommendations.

We are also pleased that the court has upheld the remedial action of the Public Protector.

The Public Protector found that Mr Motsoeneng had lied about having a matric certificate, “purged” staff members perceived as disloyal to him and fraudulently inflated salaries (including his own – from R1.5m to R2.4m in one year).

Today’s judgment was the first part of the DA’s application in this matter. The second part is the DA’s review application to have Mr Motsoeneng’s appointment declared invalid on the grounds that it was manifestly irrational and unlawful from the very outset.

Mr Motsoeneng’s suspension following today’s judgment is a much-needed opportunity to root out the rot at the SABC once and for all.

Of equal importance is the implications of this judgment for the Nkandla scandal. In the Nkandla Report, the Public Protector ordered the President to pay a reasonable percentage of the costs of the non-security upgrades to his private home. It is clear that the judgment applies to this remedial action too. The President, and the Nkandla Ad Hoc Committee due to be re-established, cannot ignore the remedial action in the Public Protector’s report in light of today’s judgment.

We have argued all along that the Public Protector’s damning findings against Mr Motsoeneng, and President Jacob Zuma in the Nkandla debacle, could not be ignored. President Zuma cannot dither any longer and must comply with the Public Protector’s remedial action.

Statement issued by James Selfe, Chairperson of DA Federal Council | Shadow Minister of Correctional Services, April 23 2015