The SABC board did not approve the surprise naming of Phil Molefe as head of news at the public broadcaster, board member Pippa Green said on Friday as members prepared for an urgent meeting likely to see them challenge the appointment.

“In terms of the governance charter the appointment is supposed to be approved by the board, but that did not happen,” Green said.

She was a member of an interview panel formed to handle applications for the post vacated by former news chief Snuki Zikalala just over a year ago, but indicated it was bypassed. “The process had not been concluded.”

Fellow board member David Niddrie said the board would meet as a matter of urgency to discuss and rectify the situation created by chairman Ben Ngubane and CEO Solly Mokoetle’s announcement that acting news chief Molefe had been appointed in a permanent capacity.

“We will meet very soon to align our collective position,” he told Sapa. “We need a more comprehensive report from the panel and the validity of the appointment has to be considered by the board.”

It is understood that the meeting could take place as early as Saturday.

Like other board members, Niddrie said he was stunned to learn that Molefe had been given the job a fortnight before the panel was due to report back to the board on the applications for the post and recommend a suitable candidate.

“I was rather shocked to hear that an appointment appears to have been made. The agreed process was not adhered to.”

Suzanne Vos, another member of the board, said since due process was not followed the announcement could not have any legal standing. “I am firmly of the opinion that this alleged appointment has no legal effect.”

The board’s reaction was at odds with a statement issued on Thursday by Mokoetle welcoming the appointment.

It read: “The board and I are happy that this matter has been brought to finality as promised, as this was a key vacant position that needed to be filled to stabilise the corporation.”

The Cape Times reported that the deputy chairwoman of the board, Felling Sekha, flatly denied that an appointment had been made shortly after it was announced.

Sekha could not be reached for comment but other board members confirmed that she recorded an interview for SABC’s PM Live radio programme in which she distanced herself from the executive’s decision. However, it was not aired.

The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) issued a statement sharply condemning the move to appoint Molefe, saying it raises concerns that the public broadcaster was being turned into a propaganda machine.

“We are deeply concerned about this seemingly unprocedural and flawed appointment of Molefe as the head of news,” said Numsa, whose president Cedric Gina is also a member of the SABC board.

“This appointment raises serious suspicions that the CEO [Mokoetle] acted to appease certain individuals who want to use the SABC as their propaganda spewing machine.”

The union warned that the decision to appoint Molefe “compromises the board’s immediate mandate of rebuilding the public broadcaster from the board’s previous squabbles and shenanigans”.

The apparent discord between the board and the executive comes just months after both were appointed in a bid to turn the page on a major financial and governance crisis at the broadcaster.

Mokoetle’s own appointment by the SABC interim board in December was reported to have caused unhappiness with the incoming board.

Some members felt it should have been left to the new board to appoint a CEO.

Board members on Friday said their relationship with Mokoetle was rocky at times but dismissed suggestions by media commentator Anton Harber that the move to make Molefe head of news could be construed as bowing to pressure from the ANC. — Sapa