The Democratic Alliance has called on the ANC to remove Faith Muthambi as minister of communications following a heated exchange between her and the party’s communications subcommittee chairman, Jackson Mthembu, over set-top box encryption for digital television.
DA national spokesman Phumzile van Damme said on Wednesday that the ANC appeared to be more angered by Muthambi contradicting the party publicly than about her “failures as a minister”.
“If the ANC is serious about holding Muthambi to account, and steering the department of communications and the SABC to calm waters, it will put pressure on President Zuma to fire Muthambi,” Van Damme said in a statement.
“It is not enough to call Muthambi out for publicly defying the ANC, she must be held to account for her failures,” she added. “It’s time for President Zuma to tell minister Muthambi: ‘You’re fired.'”
Van Damme said that on Muthambi’s watch, Hlaudi Motsoeneng had been appointed as permanent chief operating officer of the SABC in defiance of public protector Thuli Madonsela and South Africa had missed the deadline for digital migration.
She also accused the minister of, among other things, failing to implement remedial action ordered by the public protector and supreme court of appeal to suspend Motsoeneng and institute disciplinary action against him. — (c) 2015 NewsCentral Media
- See also: ANC ruckus over set-top box encryption