PARLIAMENT’s
portfolio committee on communications chairman Ismail Vadi has asked
for a copy of the report that allegedly accuses SABC CEO Solly
Mokoetle of corporate governance failures when he was chief operating
officer, writes Jocelyn Newmarch in Business Day.
Vadi said yesterday he had never
seen the document, compiled in 2005 by Gobodo Forensic and
Investigative Accounting. Despite its explosive content, it had not
been presented to the committee. “It’s difficult to make an assessment
of the situation without a copy of the report,†Vadi said.
He
said the SABC would be high on the agenda of the committee in the new
year, and that he expected to receive a copy of the report within the
next few days.
Yesterday, the Inkatha
Freedom Party (IFP) called for an urgent investigation into allegations
surrounding Mokoetle , who was the SABC’s chief operations officer
between 2001 and December 2006, and took office as CEO on Friday on a
five-year contract.
The report apparently
deals with “collusive tendering†worth R56m between production
companies and senior executives at the SABC.
IFP
spokesman Musa Zondi said claims made about Mokoetle were disturbing.
It was vital that there was “not even a whiff of scandal surrounding
the new CEO because public patience is running thin and confidence must
be restored in the public service forthwithâ€ÂÂ, he said.
Meanwhile,
the Department of Communications has hit back at perceptions that the
interim board acted outside its powers in appointing a new CEO .
SABC
observers both within and outside the broadcaster have questioned the
timing of the report’s leak, on the eve of Mokoetle’s taking office.
Read the full report as posted on www.businessday.co.za, here.
