A key member of the SABC board personally arranged for the placing of an advertisement for the African National Congress on SABC radio — using his own company to do the booking and earning an agency commission.
The Mail & Guardian has established that Cecil Msomi, who was recently appointed to succeed Thami Mazwai as the board member responsible for oversight of news and programming at the public broadcaster, personally booked the radio spot on the SABC’s Ukhozi FM.
The advert, costing in the region of R100 000, was flighted at the beginning of January to advertise an ANC rally in Pietermaritzburg on January 11. Although billed as an ANC anniversary rally, the event was widely seen as the ANC’s first major election thrust in KwaZulu-Natal at which ANC President Thabo Mbeki would unveil the organisation’s election manifesto.
The rally generated controversy because of the SABC’s decision to carry live television coverage of Mbeki’s address, a privilege not granted to other political parties.
Msomi set up Roundvest, which trades as Singile Communications, in June last year, around the time he resigned as regional editor of television and radio in KwaZulu-Natal, where some staffers regarded him as partisan towards the ANC. He was joined at the time in the close corporation by two serving employees of SABC news in Durban.
Msomi was appointed to the SABC board by Mbeki in December last year, making up part of what opposition parties alleged was a body dominated by supporters of the ruling party.
Confronted with these allegations, Msomi confirmed he had arranged for the placing of the ANC advert and that he still had an interest in Roundvest, which earned the agency fee (normally about 10%). He denied he was guilty of any conflict.
”As far as I am concerned, there is absolutely no conflict of interest.”
He said he would continue to serve on the board ”as long as I have the mandate of the majority of the democratic forces in this country”.
When it was put to him that the Broadcasting Act required prior disclosure of any direct or indirect interest in the telecommunications, broadcasting or print media industry, Msomi claimed he had disclosed his interest in Roundvest/Singile to the Parliamentary committee that interviewed him and that it was also disclosed in his CV.
A defiant Msomi put down the phone, shortly after telling the M&G: ”Don’t tell a lie [that he has a conflict of interest] and then expect me to help prove it. I’m not going to be intimidated.”
The M&G has obtained a copy of the CV submitted to the committee, which makes no mention of Roundvest or Singile. Suzanne Vos, who serves on the committee on behalf of the Inkatha Freedom Party, denied that Msomi had disclosed his interest in Roundvest.
The chairperson of the communications committee, ANC MP Kgaogelo Lekgoro, told the M&G he would have to investigate the situation and review the tapes of Msomi’s interview, but could not comment further until he had done so.
Vos revealed that on January 20 she had written to SABC board chairperson Eddie Funde, a prominent ANC member, to query whether Msomi had been involved in any way in the decision to run the advertisement or in the company that placed it.
She requested that the issue be placed before the board at its January 22 meeting.
Vos told the M&G she had not even had the courtesy of an acknowledgement from Funde, who chairs an ANC committee set up to evaluate the performance of sitting MPs.
Vos said she had raised concerns about Msomi privately with the ANC prior to his appointment, but had been rebuffed. She called on him to resign.
Democratic Alliance communications spokesperson Dene Smuts said that in terms of the Independent Broadcasting Authority Act the advert itself was possibly unlawful. The Act prohibits political advertising outside the proclaimed election period.
”It is outrageous that a sitting board member associates himself with and profits from placing a political advert,” Smuts said.
SABC spokesperson Paul Setsetse told the M&G the corporation’s view was that there was no conflict of interest. ”He runs a public relations company. They placed an ad on behalf of the ANC. He’s not involved in the broadcast industry. As the SABC we do business with companies and agencies across the board. Who is the owner is not our issue.”
Setsetse denied that Msomi’s actions constituted an abuse of his SABC position in any way and said the board would not be conducting any investigation into the matter.
”The board is facing serious issues. I don’t think it will be side-tracked by gossip in the corridors.”
Msomi’s links with the ANC, the fact that two journalists at the SABC were also directors of his company and the revelation that Dianne Köhler-Barnard, who until last week presented The Editors on SAfm, is on the DA’s election lists raise the spectre of creeping political influence at the public broadcaster.