President Jacob Zuma will only appoint an interim South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board after the National Assembly recommends the dissolution of the board.

“Upon the dissolution of the board‚ the president is required by the Broadcasting Act to appoint an interim board consisting of three executive members of the board and five persons recommended by the National Assembly‚” a Presidency statement on Wednesday explained.

“The Broadcasting Act requires the president to appoint the interim Board within 10 days of receiving recommendations from the National Assembly. The interim board is appointed for a period not exceeding six months.”

The statement also noted that‚ “this week‚ the Presidency announced the resignation of Prof Obert Maguvhe as a member and a chairperson” of the board.

Maguvhe was‚ up until then‚ the last remaining member of the board after the others resigned as Parliamentary held an inquiry into a number of crises at the broadacaster.

“The president will wait for the National Assembly to conclude its inquiry. Any further decision regarding the SABC board will be guided by the recommendations of the National Assembly‚” the Presidency said.

Parliament’s portfolio committee on communications said this week that it feels “vindicated” by the resignation of Maguvhe.

Portfolio committee chairperson Humphrey Maxegwana noted on Monday that the “committee had resolved during its meeting on 5 October 2016 to ask all the then remaining SABC board members to resign or face inquiry into their fitness to hold office”.

“The committee feels vindicated‚ but maintains that Prof Maguvhe should have resigned earlier without resorting to delaying tactics that wasted the time of Parliament‚” Maxegwana added.

It was the portfolio committee that was originally supposed to probe the many crises which had beset the public broadcaster‚ but the ad hoc committee on SABC board inquiry was set up after members of the SABC board raised concerns that the portfolio committee was prejudiced.

Maxegwana said that the portfolio committee “is also concerned by the allegations that Prof Maguvhe might have misled the ad hoc committee” and will call on it to “investigate the allegation”.

This appeared to be a reference to an accusation by Democratic Alliance MP Phumzile van Damme when she tackled Maguvhe over his failed urgent court interdict to halt the inquiry going ahead.

“Your advocate in the high court was very clear. It was in your personal capacity. The SABC only joined later on‚” Van Damme said at a sitting last week.

“So why would you mislead this committee and say you didn’t know it was in your personal capacity?” she asked.

[Source: TimesLive]