The SABC on Sunday confirmed reports that its group head of technology, Sipho Masinga, has been suspended, but declined to detail the reasons behind this.

“The media will not be used as a way of doing a disciplinary process,” SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said.

He said Masinga was suspended over a month ago.

On Sunday, the City Press newspaper reported that Masinga was suspended allegedly following a report he wrote in which he blamed outdated and broken infrastructure for interruptions to the national broadcaster’s service.

Last month, SABC TV channels and radio stations went off air for hours, apparently due to technical problems.

Kganyago said that the report was an “internal document” that would not be made public as the context was not understood.

“We don’t write reports because we just feel like it. We write if there is a problem to find a solution.”

According to the City Press, in his report Masinga suggested that many of the problems with failing infrastructure were “aggravated by the appointment of incompetent persons who place moratoriums on maintenance and investments in new technology”. — Sapa