Allegations of political horse-trading have tainted the selection of the new SABC board, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy
THE new South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board members await President Nelson Mandela’s approval before they can take up their seats at the end of the month.
But this round of nominees, selected by a parliamentary committee, has raised eyebrows among some media observers who note the omission of people with an “immense wealth of media experience”.
The omissions include respected writer, Professor Fatima Meer; head of the Rhodes University journalism faculty, Guy Berger; former head of communications at the University of the North West, Professor Graham Addison; and vice-chancellor of the University of the North, Njabulo Ndebele.
The SABC board is to oversee the running of the corporation and ensure that new policies are implemented by management. The relationship between the board’s chair and the SABC`s chief executive, therefore, needs to be cordial if the needs of both parties are to be met. However, it is understood that the relationship between board chair, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and SABC chief, executive Zwelakhe Sisulu, has been “quite tempestous”.
Unlike the first board selection – which was headline news – the new selection was finalised with little media attention, even though meetings were open to the public. The reason for this, say observers, is that the role of the second SABC board is less important than that of the first which took over prior to the 1994 all-race elections.
The first SABC board had a mammoth task to fulfil. It had to set the pace of transformation at the public broadcaster by introducing and approving affirmative action quotas, bring in 11 languages across the three channels and ensure that the SABC became representative of the South African public, rich in different cultures.
The task facing the new board, says one former member, is not as spectacular, “but the new board will have to keep the SABC afloat as the public broadcaster is believed to be in financial dire straits. The new board, in some ways, has a more difficult task ahead.”
Eight of the current SABC board members have been re-elected, including Ivy Matsepe- Casaburri, Ruth Teer-Tomaselli , Brigalia Bam, Anna Boshoff (the only Afrikaans- speaking person out of the seven Afrikaners who were on the old board) and Colin Kenneth Hickling (deputy chair), among others.
Mandela can decide to cut down the selected 21 nominees to 16 or he can keep the total number of members selected as well as choose the chair and deputy chair. He also has to decide how long members will serve, but their term cannot exceed five years. The outgoing board served for three years.
Criticism has been levelled at the selection process and the panel members used. The previous selection panel consisted mainly of people from the legal profession whereas this year’s selection took place with a good deal of political party intervention.
Allegations of political horse-trading have been made and one insider says a lot of “shuffling took place at the last minute. Even the closing date for nominations was shifted at least three times allowing some political bods to make last-minute nominations.”
The chairman of the portfolio committee on communications of the national assembly, Sam Moeti, denies there was horse-trading, saying: “This was an open and transparent process and anyone who was interested could attend. Nominations were made by the public, a shortlist of 40-something names was compiled and it was further discussed and debated by the committee members who finally decided on 21 names which were handed over to the president.”
Moeti was unable to furnish the Mail & Guardian with the initial shortlist of names, of which Berger and Addison formed part, as Parliament is in recess. It is, however, understood that the shortlist presented to Moeti`s select committee was finalised by sub-committees which consisted of representatives from the major political parties. About 110 nominations were initially received by the committee, according to Moeti.
The other new SABC board members are Francois Beukman, Lyndall Campher, Paul Davis, Frederik Kok, Mandla Langa, Professor Zanemvula Mda, Professor Mbulelo Mzamane, Litha Nyhonya, William Rowland, Masepeke Sekhukhuni, Sheila Sisulu (incumbent member), Reverend Gabriel Setiloane, Professor Jabulani Thembela (incumbent member), Christine Qunta, Allister Sparks (incumbent member) and Professor Paulus Zulu.
* The incumbent board members who were omitted include Fikile Bam, Herman Bailey, Leon Bartel, Erra Cilliers, Arnold De Beer, Antonie Gildenhuys, Tsepo Khumbane, Fatima Meer, Khaba Mkhize, Njabulo Ndebele, Winston Ndungane, Abram Nkabinde and Pieter Potgieter.