South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) CEO Dali Mpofu is considering another round of legal action after the SABC board suspended him again, he said on Friday.
”Yes I can confirm that,” he said referring to a Talk Radio 702 report that he was suspended on Thursday night.
”I am on my way to my lawyers now. They [the board] are putting some disciplinary charges [to me]. They are making the same mistakes as last time. The reason was a whole host of spurious things,” he said.
This included making statements to the media.
He would release a statement after consulting with his lawyers on Friday, he said.
SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said he was not mandated to talk on behalf of the SABC board, and comment from a board spokesperson was not immediately available.
Mpofu was first suspended on May 7, a day after he suspended his news chief, Snuki Zikalala, who was accused of leaking a memorandum on Mpofu’s alleged bad management of the SABC.
Mpofu challenged his suspension and the Johannesburg High Court ruled in his favour. The court ruled that the meeting where the suspension was decided did not follow the correct legal procedures, including giving reasonable notice of the board meeting to all relevant parties.
The SABC was on June 2 denied leave to appeal this judgement. ”The application for leave to appeal is dismissed with costs,” said Judge Moroa Tsoka.
”I’m on my way to work again. This is over until the next game,” Mpofu told reporters after the hearing on June 2.
”It is clear that this is no longer about the interests of the SABC — it is a personal vendetta. But I will fight it all the way. It is such a waste of resources and time,” he added.
In-fighting
The public broadcaster has been plagued by in-fighting in the past months. Internal politics intensified since the election of new African National Congress leaders at Polokwane in December, with management and board members reportedly aligned to different factions within the ruling party.
The communications portfolio committee has recommended to the National Assembly that a vote of no confidence be adopted against the SABC board. The National Assembly noted the report, which stated that there were clear signs of a ”leadership breakdown in a state-owned entity”.
The board is of the opinion that Mpofu never had the authority to suspend Zikalala and that the latter’s suspension was unlawful.
Media reports have suggested that the board had planned to suspend Mpofu and appoint Zikalala in his position, and that this was the real reason why Mpofu suspended Zikalala. — Sapa