SABC board members have scorned
weekend reports suggesting there is a rift between the new board and
the ÂÂÂpublic broadcaster’s new chief executive, Solly Mokoetle, writes Lloyd Gedye for the Mail & Guardian.
According to a Sunday Times report the new board is set to challenge Mokoetle’s appointment by the SABC’s interim board.
The Mail & Guardian
has in its possession a copy of a Labour Court judgement of December
2008, which finds that the SABC victimised Mokoetle because of its
“undue delay†in instituting disciplinary proceedings against him based
on ÂÂÂthe findings of a report by Gobodo Forensic and Investigative
Accounting in 2005.
The Sunday Times quoted anonymous
board members saying they would act on the Gobodo findings, allegedly
that Mokoetle had failed in his corporate governance duties.
The Labour Court queries the fact that at the time the report was
presented to it, the then-SABC board decided not to pursue charges.
“It would then not be legally competent for a successor [or even the
board] to reverse that decision some two years later on the eve of the
expiry of the applicant’s contract of employment,†says the judgement.
However, the court does not detail the charges or specifically
exonerate Mokoetle.
One of the new SABC board members, who asked not to be named, told the M&G that “it seems underhand to raise these issues nowâ€ÂÂ.
The board source said there had been no discussions between board
members about Mokoetle’s fitness for the job. This was confirmed by
other board members.
 Click here for the full story posted on www.mg.co.za.
