Communications minister Faith Muthambi has moved to appeal a high court ruling that upheld that SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s appointment was irrational.
On 23 May, Western Cape high court judge Dennis Davis dismissed the SABC and Motsoeneng’s application for leave to appeal that court’s November 2015 ruling on the controversial Motsoeneng.
In 2015, the Democratic Alliance launched a legal bid to overturn the appointment of Motsoeneng as SABC chief operating officer. Subsequently, the Western Cape high court in November 2015 ruled that Motsoeneng’s appointment was irrational and unlawful and must be set aside.
The November 2015 judgment centred on a report by public protector Thuli Madonsela, which found that Motsoeneng had lied about his qualifications when applied to the SABC for a job.
The report further found that Motsoeneng had hiked his salary from R1,5m to R2,4m in one year, that he purged senior staff, and irregularly increased salaries of various staff members.
But now Muthambi has applied to the supreme court of appeal to seek leave to appeal the high court’s judgment.
Muthambi, in a petition filed with the appeals court, said her decision to appoint Motsoeneng was rational and that she properly considered the public protector’s report.
“The minister’s position set out in her answering affidavit was that she considered the public protector’s report in detail before taking the decision and that she considered the merits of each of the allegations,” read Muthambi’s application with the SCA for leave to appeal, which was filed on 22 June.
“She (Muthambi) concluded that in light of all the facts available to her, the findings of the public protector’s report ‘did not constitute a bar or indeed an impediment to the appointment of Mr Motsoeneng’,” read the application.
In the petition, Muthambi further said she needed to “take urgent steps” to fulfil the SABC chief operating officer position to ensure stability at the broadcaster.
Muthambi also said the SABC board had “deliberated” at great length over Motsoeneng’s appointment as chief operating officer.
Amid the court battles, the DA secured a court order last year that forced the SABC to conduct a disciplinary hearing against Motsoeneng.
But that hearing subsequently cleared Motsoeneng of all charges.
Since then, Motsoeneng has pushed a controversial policy of not broadcasting visuals of protest action or burning of public buildings. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) is set to hear a complaint of this editorial policy on Friday in Johannesburg.
Meanwhile, Motsoeneng has also moved to adopt a 90% local content policy across the public broadcaster’s radio stations, while TV station SABC 3 is set to have 80% local content from July.