DA welcomes Muthambi's decision to oppose court application
24 July 2014
The DA notes the announcement today that Minister Muthambi will oppose our court application to have the appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng reviewed and overturned.
We look forward to hearing the Minister's arguments in court on August 19.
It is our strong view, set out in our founding affidavit, that the decision to appoint Mr Motsoeneng as the Chief Operations Officer (COO) of the SABC was irrational and unlawful.
The decision was irrational given the damning findings of the Public Protector in her Report of February 17. These include that Mr Motsoeneng had:
Lied about his qualifications when applying for the COO position, and when applying for his earlier positions at the SABC.
Abused his power by increasing his salary three times in the space of one year: from R1.5 million to R2.4 million.
Been responsible for the unlawful appointment of Ms Sully Motsweni to various positions and for her subsequent unlawful salary increases between 2011 and 2012.
Purged senior staff that led to "the avoidable loss of millions of Rand towards salaries in respect of unnecessary and settlements for irregular terminations of contracts."
In the light of these findings, the only rational course of action was for the Minister and the Board to suspend Mr Motsoeneng and institute disciplinary proceedings against him.
The decision was also irrational and unlawful in that it did not follow the process as set down by the SABC's Articles of Association. This requires the SABC Board to advertise the position and shortlist candidates to be interviewed. This did not happen.
Minister Muthambi and the SABC Board have protected and promoted Mr Motsoeneng despite having every reason to have him fired. This leads us to the inescapable conclusion that Mr Motsoeneng was appointed purely for political reasons.
We have a very strong case that the decision to appoint Mr Motsoeneng was legally flawed, and can be overturned in court. It is in the interest of every South African who values the independence of our public broadcaster that we succeed.
Statement issued by Gavin Davis, DA Shadow Minister of Communications, July 24 2014
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
