James Aguma with Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
Suspended SABC acting chief executive James Aguma has resigned, facing 10 disciplinary charges which include breach of contract, abuse of authority, dishonesty and interfering with the disciplinary hearings against former SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
The announcement came from chairperson Taki Madima early on Wednesday.
This development follows a failed effort by Aguma’s attorney, Osborne Molatudi, to have the proceedings set aside due to outstanding SABC transcript documents.
Madima ruled the request had “no bearing or relevance on the continuation or not of the disciplinary hearing.”
Aguma’s legal team launched a last ditch effort to counter by threatening to file an application to have the process declared unlawful.
Madima responded by stating such an action could not halt the proceedings.
Nevertheless, at a Wednesday SABC press briefing on the outcome of the disciplinary hearing, interim board chairperson Khanyisile Kweyama stated all 10 charges against Aguma will be dropped.
Kweyama said that some of the issues have been referred to the Special Investigations Unit. “We have said that we have handed over a number of matters to SIU, some of them around possible criminal activities, she said. “We had taken Aguma to disciplinary hearing process.
“We respect those processes and we let them unfold. We don’t believe we have let anyone off the hook … There are potential criminal actions that may arise from SIU investigation and we can’t comment at this stage.
“We do have a resignation letter from Aguma … there is no settlement discussion on the table.”