SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s appeal against the high court order that he be suspended pending a disciplinary inquiry, is set to be heard in the supreme court of appeal in Bloemfontein in September.
This is after the case was postponed in the Western Cape high court on Wednesday.
The appeal comes after judge Ashton Schippers in April upheld the ruling that Motsoeneng be suspended and that a disciplinary hearing take place within 60 days of the ruling, pending the appeal process.
The interim application was filed by the Democratic Alliance in December 2014, and argued that the high court order against Motsoeneng must be enforced following public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report into alleged bribery at the SABC.
In February last year, Madonsela released a report on Motsoeneng while he was still the acting COO.
She established that his salary had increased from R1,5m to R2,4m in one year, and that he had misrepresented his qualifications to the SABC and had purged senior staff.
Madonsela recommended that a new COO be appointed at the SABC within 90 days.
Motsoeneng was permanently appointed to the COO position in July last year by communications minister Faith Muthambi.
The DA argued in court that the order to suspend Motsoeneng needed to be enforced, or the country and the SABC would suffer irreparable damage. It would also affect the remedial powers of the public protector, the party argued. — News24
