SABC COO - only qualified applicants should be considered

The DA welcomes the progress being made by Communications Minister Yunus Carrim to resolve the years-long legal issue surrounding the appointment of a permanent Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).

Once this is resolved the Minister must ensure that only appropriately qualified and experienced candidates are shortlisted for the position.

The job of managing the SABC, a multi-billion rand corporation, requires exceptional managerial qualifications, skills and experience, something which has been sorely lacking from the current acting COO, Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

Motsoeneng, who does not have a matric qualification, has no relevant degree, diploma or appropriate qualification required for the post, has run the SABC as his private fiefdom. He drove the collapse of the previous board, through his political connections, because it dared resolve to remove him from the acting COO post in February this year.

The DA will ask that Minister Carrim, as custodian of South Africa's shareholding in the SABC, stress to the SABC board that it must exercise its fiduciary duties with utmost care when they evaluate and recommend candidates for his final selection.

The pending advertisement for the post must state the importance of candidates having appropriate qualifications as well as a verifiable track record of good corporate governance. The advertisement must not be written to suit the current acting incumbent, the legality of whose tenure is in doubt.

The legal issue that has hampered the appointment of a permanent COO at the SABC and which has been vacant since 2006, has been a major cause of uncertainty and has jeopardised good corporate governance. It also led to the usurpation by the acting COO of some of the responsibilities of the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) and to the politicisation of the post.

We will be watching this process with an eagle eye to ensure that the best possible, politically neutral and appropriately experienced candidate is chosen for the job. Having the best-qualified and experienced person for the job is critical if the SABC is to be pulled from the mire into which it has plunged, particularly during the past year, when it received one of its worst-ever Auditor General reports.

Statement issued by Marian Shinn MP, DA Shadow Minister of Communications, November 26 2013

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