The SABC could have an interim board by early next month, with indications that it might include trade unionists Randall Howard and Cunningham Ngcukana.
The ANC, Cosatu and the South African Communist Party also want the chief executive of SABC news, Snuki Zikalala, replaced after the board has been dissolved.
The name of Phil Molefe, currently general manager of international affairs, has been mentioned as a possible replacement.
The ANC and its allies are pushing for an interim board to be in place by early December. They allegedly plan to use aspects of the SABC’s annual report, which it will present to Parliament next Tuesday, to mount a no-confidence motion.
ANC parliamentary caucus spokesperson Khotso Khumalo told The Sunday Independent last week that Parliament ”is going to get rid of the board”. He told the Mail & Guardian that he ”said that, and I stick to my views”.
SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande also made it clear that his party wants the board to step down immediately. ”We cannot allow [it] to continue even for a day,” said Nzimande, addressing a public debate on the SABC at Wits University this week.
The M&G has been told that the new board will include public figures recommended by Parliament’s communications committee and overlooked by former president Thabo Mbeki.
Among them are Howard, general secretary of Cosatu’s transport union, Satawu; Ngcukana, former general secretary of the National Council of Trade Unions; and Sizwe Shezi, a trustee of the Jacob Zuma RDP Trust.
A reliable source predicted a ”memorable” showdown between Parliament and the board next Tuesday when the board presents its annual report to the portfolio committee. ”It’ll be a rowdy meeting,” the source said, as board members felt ANC MPs had intimidated them for too long.
The Broadcasting Amendment Bill, which sets out procedures for Parliament to dismiss the board if ”it fails to discharge its fiduciary duties, fails to adhere to its charter or fails to carry out its duties”, is nearing enactment. It is to be debated in the National Assembly on Wednesday after being returned by the National Council of Provinces last week.
This was a setback for the parliamentary ANC, as it leaves the final say on the board’s composition in the hands of the president. But President Kgalema Motlanthe is unlikely to thwart Parliament on the issue.
The board members have vowed not to go down without a fight.
During the debate at Wits board member Alison Gillwald warned that the rush to replace the board could be dangerous, especially if the reasons for it were not convincing.
It is understood that aspects of the SABC’s report may be used to pass a motion of no confidence in the corporation and push for the board to be removed.
The source also said the plan includes ensuring that the SABC is led by a new board sympathetic to the ANC when the election campaign heats up next year.
Board chairperson Khanyi Mkonza said Parliament has been looking at ways of dissolving the board since the beginning of the year, but she knew nothing about plans to remove it by the end of this month. ”I don’t know anything beyond the Bill in Parliament,” she said.
Khumalo, who also sits on the communications committee, said he could not say when the board would be removed. ”The president will have to sign and we don’t know how long it will take. It might be January.” He added that the board ”failed to provide leadership to the entire corporation”.
The broadcaster was still not accommodating some minority groups, Khumalo said, alluding also to the blacklisting scandal in which certain political analysts were excluded from radio and television programmes, the fact that the SABC was in the red and the expansive coverage it had given to the Congress of the People.
Wits journalism Professor Anton Harber said the dissolution of the board is ”likely to replace one faction with a dominant other”.
Nzimande said the board should be removed because it favours the elite, is captive to the Mbeki camp and lacks working-class representation.