A Johannesburg High Court judge on Wednesday questioned South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) CEO Dali Mpofu’s lawyer about Mpofu’s conduct during a board meeting where he was suspended.
Judge Antonie Gildenhuys wanted to know why Mpofu did not object when the chairperson of the board asked him to recuse himself from the meeting.
”It seems to me that if he did volunteer to leave, that is the end of your case,” Gildenhuys told Mpofu’s lawyer, Michael Kuper.
”He is [Mpofu] is a legally trained person and he has been through a court case on this very issue … why did he not object?” asked the judge.
”As I see it, that is the crux of the case,” he added.
Kuper said Mpofu believed that the board would recall him to offer him an opportunity to state his side of the story.
Kuper pointed out that Mpofu did object at the end of the meeting when it emerged that he would not get a chance to respond.
”I can think of many reasons why he did not object … [but] I find it disturbing that he doesn’t deal with that in his papers,” said the judge.
The court was hearing arguments by Mpofu’s lawyer after Gildenhuys ruled that the application to lift Mpofu’s suspension was indeed urgent.
However, the judge said he could only rule on whether the meeting where the suspension was decided was unlawful, and not on whether the suspension was invalid.
Mpofu’s lawyers want the court to declare the meeting where his suspension was decided as irregular, because Mpofu and two other board members were asked not to attend.
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.
This is Mpofu’s third suspension, two of which have been overturned by the Johannesburg High Court.
Zikalala was reinstated to his position as SABC head of news because the board believed Mpofu did not have the authority to suspend him. — Sapa