Ex-SABC boss lets fly at managers
Former SABC chairman Kanyi Mkonza — who this week admitted that she “sucks as a leader” — is not going down without a fight.
In a seven-page written submission to parliament’s communications portfolio committee she said the board was pressured into resigning because it dared to expose corruption and looting within the broadcaster.
Mkonza made the submission as the committee unanimously agreed on Friday to recommend to the national assembly that the board be dissolved after an at-times farcical inquiry into its ability to carry out its duties.
Two days earlier, 10 of the 11 remaining members of the board, asked the committee to dissolve it with immediate effect — with member Andile Mbeki imploring, “Please dissolve us.”
The three-day inquiry revealed an unrepentant and hostile board and SABC management at loggerheads with each other.
Mkonza said their strong political links had made senior executives “untouchables” and a law unto themselves. She said they were responsible for “looting” an organisation that is now drowning in an R834-million deficit.
Mkonza was one of three board members to submit letters to the committee — the others being former deputy chairman Christine Qunta and businesswoman Gloria Serobe.
Mkonza did not mention names, but alleged that:
- Senior managers ran up bills on petrol cards totalling R18-million between November 2007 and the present, in a scheme that was never disclosed to the board;
- A senior manager, with interests in the music industry, is responsible for the SABC’s music policy — a conflict of interest;
- There are other conflicts of interest among executives in the content enterprises division, due to outside business interests;
- A manager in the sports division owns a production company that receives commission work from the SABC;
- The sports division received a qualified audit with “an impairment of R76-million” in the last financial year (some of this loss pertaining to “wasteful expenditure” on acquisition of sports rights such as the Spanish soccer league, the Euro 2008 Championships and an ICC 20/20 tournament); and
- Money was wasted in buying international content.
Mkonza said: “The pressure for board members to resign now could be linked to people inside and outside the SABC not wanting the board to deal with these acts of possible rampant corruption.”
She added that the board was unable to act because of management’s “perceived political and parliament(ary) protection”, its “litigious nature”, pressure on the board to resign and “negative media and public perceptions on the board”.
Responding to the allegations, two senior managers said Mkonza’s submission was “the last desperate act of someone who has consistently embarrassed herself and the SABC”.
Said one: “She and the board are directly responsible for the mess we’re in. It hasn’t given the department of communications a corporate plan since inception, it has micro-managed staff, ordered the expansion of a news division without proper thought — which cost the SABC over R80-million — undermined management and its concerns over wasteful expenditure, and was always infighting.”
Said another: “The bottom line is Kanyi was out of her depth and did not have any experience of running a complex, multibillion-rand organisation.
“She screwed up big time and now seeks to deflect attention onto the SABC management team who have operated under difficult circumstances over the past year.”
Another executive described Mkonza’s statement as sour grapes.
“If she was the chairperson then she should have raised it through the proper channels rather than now placing them in the public arena.”
SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said management would appear before the committee again on Tuesday.
“These issues were raised in parliament and if they are raised on Tuesday then we will definitely respond,” he said.
Mkonza further said lack of support had led to “opportunistic behaviour by management”.
Examples of this, she said, included former CEO Dali Mpofu’s suspension of news head Snuki Zikalala, the use of “airtime and resources” to try to force the board to step down, the mobilising of employees and parliament against the board, board resolutions not being implemented and management petitioning the president to remove the board.
Mkonza said the board had, since its inception in January 2008, after being appointed by former president Thabo Mbeki, not received any support from parliament or its shareholders, the government. The board has historically been seen as filled with Mbeki allies and funders of the Cope party. Mkonza said it had been “humiliated” when it first appeared before the committee in April 2008.
She questioned the legal status of parliament’s inquiry and said the board was still capable of carrying out its fiduciary duties.
“(There) was no immediate threat of the board collapsing without it fulfilling its fiduciary duties and oversight role,” she said.
Mkonza has in the past year endured one controversy after another, and several damning allegations still hang over her.
These include her use of a full-time bodyguard-cum-driver, which cost more than R300000; spending more than R800000 in early 2009 to spy on other board members and managers; engineering Mpofu’s exit from the SABC; authorising five-star overseas trips and leave for staff, and jetting off on a first-class trip to the UK just days after announcing a financial crisis at the broadcaster.
In her letter, Serobe said that during the past 18 months the tenure of the board had been “extremely difficult and sometimes abusive”, but this had not prompted her resignation. She had tendered her resignation in light of the fact that the board would not have a quorum by mid-September, with parliament unwilling to fill vacancies.
A defiant Qunta continued to question the legality of the inquiry, adding that the board had not been given proper time to respond to allegations and had “not been properly heard orally nor through written submissions”.
“I therefore once more appeal to you to provide us with an adequate period, being at least one week to 10 days, for written submissions,” she said.
On Tuesday, the national assembly will be asked to adopt the committee’s resolution and then ask President Jacob Zuma to dissolve the board with immediate effect.
The legal and executive services department in Zuma’s office confirmed its receipt of six letters of resignation from the board.
Business Times
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