Dithering heights yet again
The FM has discovered that an older, confidential report, prepared by auditing firm Gobodo and commissioned by the SABC board, contains allegations of nepotism and serious breaches of the SABC’s policies and procedures related to the commissioning of external television productions between 1999 and 2004.
As with the blacklisting report, the SABC refuses to release the Gobodo report or provide details of its content.
The commissions, worth about R130m, were initially the focus of an investigation by an internal audit team and the national prosecuting authority. The Gobodo report identifies staff who signed commissions for content when they did not have the authority to do so. Commissions also went ahead without the necessary paperwork being done.
The most senior people implicated in the report are former CEO Peter Matlare and outgoing COO Solly Mokoetle Both men are named not for specific transgressions but because they were responsible for staff members who broke the SABC’s rules and procedures.
Neither Matlare nor Mokoetle could be reached for comment on the allegations.
Current CEO Dali Mpofu says he has taken disciplinary action against some of the people in the report but won’t name them, saying it’s an internal matter. Others were absolved of wrongdoing.
Mpofu, who sought independent legal advice from Johannesburg law firm Daly Inc, says he has no grounds to refer anyone for criminal prosecution. “There was a period when processes and delegation were unclear and people were cutting corners,” Mpofu says. Did anyone do anything illegal? “No, we didn’t institute any criminal charges.”
As is the case with the fallout over the blacklisting report, the board was at odds over what to do with the allegations in the Gobodo report. According to a source, there was “significant unhappiness” among some board members when SABC chairman Eddie Funde declared there was insufficient evidence to prosecute those named in the report. “Relations [between board members] became very tense and strained.”
Funde declined to comment, instead referring the FM to Mpofu’s office.
The breakdown in relations between the board and Matlare and his management team culminated in his resignation when the board appointed Snuki Zikalala as head of news behind his back. Matlare had earlier engineered Zikalala’s exit from the corporation. (The current blacklist fallout centres on Zikalala, who is accused of violating editorial policy in banning certain commentators from the SABC airwaves.)
The board had begun interfering in other operational decisions while Matlare was CEO. Board members were conducting interviews and hiring middle managers.
Insiders say that the Gobodo investigation turned into something of a “witch hunt” against those perceived to be in the Matlare camp. “The people who drove this were interested in their battle with Peter at the time,” says a production company source.
Relations degenerated to the point that some members of the board and management were not on speaking terms. In the end, Matlare, who now works for Vodacom, and many of the senior managers he appointed resigned or were forced out.
Former board member Noluthando Gosa and deputy chair Christine Qunta are said to have been particularly unhappy with Matlare. “You cannot underestimate the level of political conflict and intrigue going on at that time,” a source says. “The environment has got slightly more rational since Dali got there.”
Gosa, in particular, was upset that the SABC took so long to act on the Gobodo report. “The way that the people concerned manipulated the system and failed to follow procedure exposed the company to significant financial risk,” she says.
But there were disagreements between board members about whether the report had uncovered any malfeasance.
The basis of the investigation was a complaint lodged by SABC1 assistant CE for drama Dikeledi Mashile About a dozen television production companies were questioned by the Gobodo investigators. SABC staffers were also grilled.
“The investigation was a hodgepodge of innuendo and gossip,” says the MD of one of the production companies that was interviewed. A source at another production company says the investigation was carried out in the light of efforts by some board members to oust Matlare as CEO.
It’s understood that certain board members, among them Qunta and Gosa, had expressed dismay about a predominance of white management in Matlare’s team. There were also concerns that programmes written for the black market were being produced by white-led companies.
Inet-Bridge
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