SABC board failing - MKMVA

2010-10-21 18:15

Johannesburg - The current SABC board was failing to meet its statutory obligations, the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans' Association (MKMVA) said on Thursday.

"The SABC board has been given adequate time in office and have failed to meet statutory requirements," said chairperson Kebby Maphatsoe in a statement.

"The current board is representative of the growing culture of using state institutions as a base of enriching themselves."

Maphatsoe's comments follow a parliamentary meeting on Wednesday on the latest crisis at the SABC which failed to yield any results.

The meeting was postponed to November and Parliament's portfolio committee on communications slammed the SABC board for failing to do its job. Maphatsoe again called for the reinstatement of suspended chief executive Solly Mokoetle and the dissolution of the current "mechanical board that fails its statutory obligations.

"We are still calling on the state president to dissolve the SABC board immediately and start a process to appoint a new board that is representative of our society.

"It is clear that this current board of the SABC will never be able to lead the corporation out of its current abyss. This board has failed the nation and must go!"

Maphatsoe condemned the Communication Workers' Union for its "rash remarks" after the union called on the MKMVA to retract its call for Mokoetle's reinstatement.

The CWU accused Maphatsoe of "bullying" the MKMVA into supporting Mokoetle.

The SABC has been plagued by crisis after crisis, which may have contributed to losses of R910m and a R1bn bail-out from Treasury at the end of 2009.

On Monday, the presidency announced President Jacob Zuma had received and accepted the resignation of four members of the board.

The resignations received by the presidency from the communications ministry were those of board deputy chairperosn Felleng Sekha, and members Barbara Masekela, David Niddrie, and Makgatho Mello.

- SAPA