The SABC’s embattled board could be forced to resign tomorrow when
Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda tells them they have “no legal
standingâ€ÂÂ, according to a report in Business Day.
Nyanda told Business Day yesterday he would tell the board members that he had been given a legal opinion that last week’ s appointment of an interim chairman was “illegalâ€ÂÂ.
The board could not take decisions without a permanent head.
Only the president could appoint the chairman and deputy chairman of the board, he said.
After the resignation of former chairwoman Khanyi Mkonza last week, the board appointed Ashwin Trikamjee as interim chairman. Mkonza remains a board member.
Nyanda said he told Trikamjee the legal position and that the “SABC board as it stood now had no standing in lawâ€ÂÂ.
Board member Bheki Khumalo supported Nyanda yesterday, saying that he would resign as soon as “practically possibleâ€ÂÂ, and would call on board colleagues to follow suit.
The chairman of Parliament’s portfolio committee on communications, Ismail Vadi, also backed Nyanda.
Nyanda said that the board as constituted now could make no major decisions, and if it did he would be forced to take it to task.
He said the crisis at the SABC was “too seriousâ€ÂÂ, and that a long drawn out process with Parliament dissolving the board “risked further reputational damage†for the SABC.
Khumalo, who led the campaign to oust Mkhonza, said the remaining members should ask themselves if they were serving the public interest by staying in their positions.
He concurred with Nyanda, saying that a parliamentary process to dissolve the board could do more harm to the SABC, and might reduce its ability to generate revenue.
Click here to read the full report, posted on Business Day's website.
