THE ANC and the opposition parties are headed for a fresh showdown over the composition of a new SABC board. They failed to reach consensus on the list of candidates, writes Nkululeko Ncana in The Times.
Parliament's portfolio committee on communications met yesterday to decide on the list of 12 appointees to the new board.
But, in a joint statement issued after the meeting, the DA, Cope and the ID accused the ANC of ignoring their suggestions and of missing an "opportunity" to "unite" all parties behind the new board.
They accused the ANC of reneging on its promise to make the selection process "more inclusive" than that in 2007, which led to the appointment of the now-defunct boardled by Kanyisiwe Mkonza.
Yesterday, the ANC, which has a majority of votes on the committee, released the names of the 12 people it wants on the board.
They are former board member Desmond Golding, retired IFP politician Suzanne Vos, journalist Pippa Green, former KZN premier Ben Ngubane, National Union of Metalworkers of SA president Cedric Gina, ANC Youth League national executive committee member Clifford Motsepe, former journalist David Niddrie, telecommunications guru Felleng Sekha, former ambassador Barbara Masekela, attorney Peter Harris, Makgatho Mello and Claire O'Neil.
The opposition parties are unhappy about five of the names.
Portfolio chairman Ismail Vadi was forced to call for a vote for each of the candidates after the ID, DA and Cope objected to three names proposed by the ANC.
"What we are unhappy about is that we were hoping that politics would not come in, but the ANC wants three of all its alliance partners on the list," said ID leader Patricia de Lille.
The three parties objected to Niddrie, who was nominated by the SA Communist Party, Motsepe and Golding.
"The list can go through but, as the opposition, we object to Niddrie who was nominated by the SACP, [which] have never tested their strength at the polls," De Lille said.
Cope MP Julie Kilian said it was "regrettable" that "this time again" public representatives had failed the public.
"Motsepe will be the voice of the [Youth League president Julius] Malema in the SABC . but we didn't expect any less," she said.
But ANC MP Eric Kholwane fired a broadside at the opposition, saying that the parties had not offered alternatives to the three candidates to whom they had objected.
Click here to read the full report, posted on timeslive.co.za.
