Mandla Langa, the author and the outgoing chair of the Independent Communications Authority (Icasa), will be the next chief executive of the SABC — if, insiders claim, the Presidency has its way.
Langa, who has built a reputation for independence at Icasa, last week confirmed that he had been approached to ”put my name in the hat”, but denied it had been from the Presidency.
Langa’s contract at Icasa expires at the end of June. His five years at the helm have been marked by some regulatory successes, but also a difficult relationship with Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri.
Langa and Matsepe-Casaburri’s often-public clashes, including over the fraught process to licence the second network operator, may mean his accession to the top broadcasting job will not be without opposition from within the ministry and department, which have a line function responsibility for the SABC.
But Langa’s reputation as fierce defender of Icasa’s independence would, in the view of some, make him the ideal candidate to help restore the SABC’s credibility. The broadcaster has been battered by a decline in audience ratings and by perceptions that it has veered towards being a state broadcaster rather than the public broadcaster it is mandated to be.
He may also be an effective counterbalance to the SABC board, which is regarded as stacked with ruling party deployees. The board has, broadcast industry members say, assumed an increasingly executive profile, which may have translated into narrow political considerations being introduced to decisions on programming.
Ironically, political support may be crucial if a candidate like Langa is to succeed in combating narrow political interests. One source who moves in the same circles as Langa last week said that his mind was not completely made up — he has had attractive offers from the private sector — but that the political support was ”so strong” that he would probably take the job if it were formally offered.
The source said that Langa was being supported by, among others, the Presidency’s information tsars, Joel Netshitenzhe and Essop Pahad. Another source said that Langa had been asked ”at the highest level” to consider the position.
The chief executive position at the SABC became vacant after Peter Matlare resigned earlier this year.
Langa confirmed that he had been asked by the SABC’s appointed recruitment agency to submit his CV. He said he was ”humbled” to be considered a candidate, but denied being approached by the Presidency.
One government insider last week said that others who have been considered frontrunners included Johncom chief executive Connie Malusi, presidential communications head Murphy Morobe and former public works director general Thami Sokutu. He said it appeared Langa was the new frontrunner.
Langa was arrested in 1976 and spent 101 days in prison before going into exile, where he served among other things as African National Congress cultural representative. He is perhaps best known as a poet, playwright and novelist.
SABC spokesperson Paul Setsetse last week declined to ”comment on speculation”. Presidential spokesperson Bheki Khumalo would not be drawn, saying: ”It is not in our convention to comment on our preferences before the process … has been finalised.”
Democratic Alliance communications spokesperson Dene Smuts said the party would like to see Langa stay on at Icasa, but that he would be good at the SABC ”for the same qualities that saw him appointed to chair Icasa”.