An article in the 9 July issue of Business Day, written by media correspondent Jocelyn Newmarch and published in its entirety below, says that the SABC has convened 13 board meetings in the past two months – mainly to discuss Dali and Snuki.
The Business Day report says that “only two of those meetings discussed the day-to-day running of the SABC, leaving operational matters largely ignored.”
align=justifySo how much is this costing us? Charlotte Mampane has raised the issue of “misconduct and wasteful expenditure on the part of the public broadcaster’s board”, but wouldn’t it be something if we could work it out in hard cash?
align=justifyLet’s see: Take the number of board members and multiply the number of hours each one spends in these meetings by their salaries in hourly rates. Multiply that figure by 13, and we get a “cost to country”.
align=justifySo when is the public going to say, “enough is enough”? And is there someone out there with a calculator who can work out the cost of these endless meetings? I’d be keen to know where my TV license fees go…
align=justify(The SABC was not contacted for comment, as I am still awaiting three of my previous calls to be returned…)
align=justifySABC senior official alleges board misconduct
align=justifyJocelyn Newmarch
align=justifyTHE SABC’s acting chief operations officer, Charlotte Mampane, has alleged misconduct and wasteful expenditure on the part of the public broadcaster’s board.
align=justifyShe says the organisation’s head of news, Snuki Zikalala, was improperly reinstated by the board, that the board overstepped its powers, and that the day-to-day running of the broadcaster is in jeopardy.R
align=justifyThe allegations are contained in an affidavit SABC employees and stakeholders asked to be included in the court papers relating to the dispute between suspended SABC group CEO Dali Mpofu and the SABC board yesterday in the Johannesburg High Court over his suspension.
align=justifyBut when it became clear that this would result in a further postponement of the case, the application was withdrawn. R
align=justifyAlthough the affidavit was not admitted as evidence, the matter continues today. It was postponed yesterday when it emerged that court documents were numbered incorrectly.
align=justifyMpofu also abandoned any contention now or in future of misconduct by individual directors, other than the chairwoman, at board meetings held last month. He was previously seeking punitive costs against individual board members.
align=justifyAccording to the affidavit, 13 board meetings had been convened in the past two months, most of which were spent discussing the dispute between Mpofu and the board.
align=justifyDespite this, the dispute remains unresolved. Only two of those meetings discussed the day-to-day running of the SABC, leaving operational matters largely ignored.
align=justifyMampane accused the board of wasteful expenditure, since the cost of pursuing the dispute in court was estimated by the !_LT_EMMail & Guardian!_LT_/EM at between R3m and R5m.
align=justifyMampane, herself an executive director, said chair woman Khanyi Mkonza and “another board member” had concluded a contract to appoint a marketing company to represent the board, without the authorisation of the board, and without the knowledge of the SABC’s own marketing department, its CE or its chief financial officer.
align=justifyThis allegation presumably refers to FNP Communications, the employer of Lorato Tshenkeng, the board’s spokesman.
align=justifyMampane said the board had also reinstated suspended news chief Zikalala, which was interference in a management decision, as Zikalala did not report to the board. This had happened without any inquiry into serious allegations against Zikalala.
