The Western Cape high court has dismissed an appeal by the SABC of a judgment setting aside Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s permanent appointment as chief operating officer of the public broadcaster.
The Democratic Alliance on Monday welcomed the judgment, saying the result should now leave the controversial Motsoeneng without a job.
The court originally found that the appointment was irrational and unlawful and thus set it aside ab initio (from the start), the DA said.
The latest judgment comes after the high court considered the DA’s review application seeking to have the Motsoeneng’s appointment by communications minister Faith Muthambi set aside on the grounds that it was irrational and therefore unlawful from the outset, the DA said in a statement.
“This is the second part in a two-part application,” said DA MP James Selfe. “The first part of the application was decided … in the Western Cape high court and the orders confirmed in the supreme court of appeal. It was found that the SABC was legally obliged to suspend Motsoeneng pending disciplinary proceedings to be brought against him. The second part concerns Motsoeneng’s original appointment,” Selfe said.
“The DA has been successful in both parts of the application. This is an indictment of Muthambi, who shown persistent disregard for the rule of law and has managed the SABC as her personal fiefdom, subject only to her patron, President Jacob Zuma,” he said.
“Judge Dennis Davis, at the time of handing down judgment, described the information before the minister at the time of the appointment of Motsoeneng as ‘muddled and unclear’ and that it put her ‘in no position to exercise a rational decision to elevate Motsoeneng, whose tenure as acting chief operating officer had already been placed in severe doubt’, particularly in view of the very clear and damning findings of the public protector.”
The court also found that Muthambi had not properly applied her mind to the appointment, Selfe said.
In 2014, the public protector, Thuli Madonsela, found that Motsoeneng had lied about his qualifications when applying for the chief operating officer position and had acted in bad faith and abused his power by increasing his salary three times in the space of one year, from R1,5m to R2,4m.
In addition, he was responsible for the “purging” of senior staff that cost the SABC “millions of rand” as well as irregularly increasing the salaries of various staff members, increasing the SABC’s salary bill by R29m.
The SABC had not immediately responded to a request for comment. — © 2016 NewsCentral Media
