Ferial Haffajee speaks to Godfrey Oliphant, the head of parliament’s committee charged with electing a new SABC board. Oliphant has the inside track on the men and women who will guide the broadcaster.
What is in the in-tray of the new board, which takes office in January?
Unfortunately some challenges came up towards the end of the term of the old board when turmoil started that we could not pick up ourselves. [In reference to allegations of mismanagement, corruption and intimidation by the SABC head of legal services, Mafika Sihlali.]
Some of the challenges may be corrective; the image of the broadcaster may have been tarnished. I am concerned by a pattern I’ve noticed at Icasa and the IBA [the communications and broadcasting regulators] where evidence is leaked just as board processes start.
The Sihlali report was leaked at the time the board needed to deal with it. The board said corporate governance was undermined by the leak and by the fact that they had to then focus on court action [an interdict against the Mail & Guardian to prevent publication of the report].
There are remaining issues related to the Sisulu blacklisting commission report and the Freedom of Expression Institute’s complaint to Icasa, which the new board will also find in its in-tray.
The past year has seen the blacklisting report as well as the near loss of vital soccer rights. Smaller incidents include the Plus 94 research, which found that while the Asikhulume and Special Assignment programmes were popular, other current affairs programmes lacked credibility. Are you concerned?
We got a report on the blacklisting issue and we are satisfied. We have set a meeting for October to assess progress.
What are you satisfied with?
We are satisfied that there was no official policy to say people must be blacklisted, but certain managers may have given inappropriate instructions.
There was a recommendation that the head of news and current affairs, Dr Snuki Zikalala, be given a warning and that was concluded. In the process, we have had some resignations, but these are not environmental, but where people have left for greener pastures.
We hope to have a proper audit of resignations at the October meeting.
On the soccer rights: the briefing we received from the SABC (we did not get the PSL side of the story) was that they had six months to negotiate after which the PSL would put the rights to tender and then come to the SABC for matching rights. Their gripe is that even before the six months, the deal was concluded, which means the PSL was negotiating in bad faith. We’ve got to accept that view.
The real question is what do we do with sports of national interest?
Are you concerned that the market is opening rapidly? Just this week, Icasa licensed four new satellite broadcasters. Jacques Pauw, the award-winning producer at Special Assignment is leaving for Telkom Media. Do you think there’s a risk of an exodus from the SABC?
There’s a limited skills pool in the ICT sector, so we’ve got to retrain and train new skills.
There has been some surprise that former Speaker of Parliament Frene Ginwala has not won your tick of approval for a board position?
Why not?
It’s not about winning approval. Comrade Frene has other deployments. She is an NEC member of the ANC. We had to ask ourselves whether we ran the risk of perception of favouring the ANC.
Also, we have sufficient legal skills on the new board.
Did you face any political pressure to include lawyer Christine Qunta who is now tipped for chair?
Choosing a chair is not our responsibility. We recommend 12 people. The law gives the president the prerogative to appoint the chair and deputy chair.
What spread of skills do the six new candidates offer?
Skills in corporate governance matters; finance and marketing; media law; regulatory matters — we now have a former Icasa councillor on the board.
I was surprised that you do not have a journalist or former journalist on the board given that one of the biggest outputs of the SABC is news and current affairs. Why not?
You don’t necessarily need a journalist, but people with journalistic skills.
I was also concerned with some former SABC staff that we should not send in people to settle old scores.
I would have thought you had the perfect opportunity for an all change given the talent at your disposal. Doesn’t the fact that you returned six board members [half the board complement] suggest this is a status quo board? Did they really impress you?
Yes and no.
Don’t you think you were too nice to a mediocre old board?
Why should we be nasty? Sometimes you stick with what is tested.
Your fellow committee member, Dene Smuts of the DA, has called the set of nominations ‘a politically partisan pro-Mbeki boardâ€. What’s your response?
We have a balanced board. It’s worth noting that we had more or less absolute consensus on eight candidates; opposition on two and abstention on two.
Cosatu has condemned the board for spurning labour representatives. Is this not a legitimate concern? [The committee failed to nominate veteran unionist Randall Howard.]
The concern is legitimate. The law does make provision for someone with labour or social background. It was my preference, but not that of the committee. As a former unionist, I can’t be seen to impose my will. My own preference is that I would have loved to have a unionist on board.
The new board
Old:
Alison Gilwald
Fadila Lagadien
Andile Mbeki
Khanyisile Mkhonza
Christine Qunta
Ashwin Trikamjee
New:
Nadia Bulbulia
Desmond Golding
Bheki Khumalo
Gloria Serobe
Pansy Tlakula
Peter Vundla