/ 23 August 2009

‘Harassment’ forces SABC3 boss to quit

In the latest management infighting at the SABC Pearl Luthuli, chief executive of public commercial broadcasting services, has quit the corporation, saying she was subjected to “continual plotting and harassment”.

“It becomes too unbearable when people are out to get you all the time,” Luthuli, who was boss of SABC3 and radio stations 5FM, Metro FM and Good Hope FM, told the Mail & Guardian.

“I got tired of being a lame-duck executive who could not make decisions. I’ve been forced to resign because I’ve been placed under enormous pressure.

“I am fighting for my principles. I believe [I] was constructively dismissed, because no one can work under those hostile circumstances.”

Luthuli said she was the victim of a vicious smear campaign.

“I got so tired, my body was giving in,” she said. “I was constantly under attack and was not able to concentrate on work.”

She said she had sent 10 letters of complaint about work-related issues to senior executives at the SABC since August 10 last year. The first response she received was to her letter of resignation.

Her decision to step down was spurred by the SABC’s demand that she repay, with interest, three months’ leave that she claimed was authorised by former board chairperson Kanyisiwe Mkonza. The amount claimed was R500 000.

But Mkonza had failed to get the acting group chief executive, Gab Mampone, to put the leave agreement in writing and sign a memorandum of understanding, said Luthuli.

She has referred the matter to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.

Asked about Luthuli’s claims, SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said: “This is a matter between employer and employee. We are not at liberty to say anything more.”

Giving an example of her alleged harassment, Luthuli said that, while on leave last year, she had heard a radio promotion announcing that presidential candidate Jacob Zuma would feature for two hours on Metro FM. She had called her staff to ensure that they followed electoral laws.

“The story was then put out that I had harassed my staff, to the point that I threatened to fire people if they didn’t take Zuma out of the studio,” said Luthuli. “It was not about JZ. It was about the role of the SABC around election time.”

When the story was leaked to the Sunday Independent, Luthuli lodged a grievance with SABC senior executives, calling for an internal investigation.

“They did nothing, even though my life was endangered by these claims. People were threatening to kill for JZ. If I was seen as an enemy of JZ, what would his followers think of me?”

Last year Luthuli took a case to the press ombudsman after SABC sources told the Sowetan that she faced “an internal investigation into mismanagement of funds” and was considered incompetent.

The newspaper was ordered to publish an apology.

Luthuli said she had requested an investigation at the SABC to find out who had spread the “malicious story”, but that no investigation had been conducted.