\u201cWe may well replace the letters MDDA with the letters SABC.\u201d<\/p>\n
These were the words of Donald Liphoko, acting CEO of the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA), as he laid bare a tale of mismanagement at the entity\u2019s board, with the board present at Tuesday\u2019s meeting of the portfolio committee of communications.<\/p>\n
This shortly after the board\u2019s chairperson, Phelisa Nkomo, put much of the blame of the agency\u2019s woes on Liphoko, who was seconded to act as the MDDA\u2019s CEO from May 8 by Communications Mminister Ayanda Dlodlo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no extraction of value from the secondment,\u201d said Nkomo. Two other board members were also present, Louise Vale and Musa Shisange.<\/p>\n
In response Liphoko said the situation at the MDDA is \u201cstrikingly similar\u201d to that which was at the SABC.<\/p>\n
He said the MDDA\u2019s staff were intimidated. \u201cAsk why is it that board members resigned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Currently there is only four non-executive MDDA board members, meaning its inquorate. According to Liphoko the three board members present are \u201cinstitutionalising a culture of victimisation\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said most of the agency\u2019s litigation is against employees, adding that bursaries are awarded as a way to reward employees or are withheld to punish them.<\/p>\n
Six people had been the agency\u2019s CEO since 2014. \u201cThey work no longer than four months,\u201d Liphoko said.<\/p>\n
He said he \u201cinherited a wounded organisation\u201d and his biggest gripe is with corporate governance issues.<\/p>\n
Liphoko further revealed that the board prevented him from entering the premises to do his work. “The board chose to trample my rights by locking me out.”<\/p>\n
He said there is a breakdown of the relationship between the board and Deputy Minister of Communications Tandi Mahambehlala because of Nkomo\u2019s leadership style.<\/p>\n
He also said the board \u201cwilfully misled\u201d the committee.<\/p>\n
Committee chairperson Humphrey Maxegwana asked the board members to stay calm while Liphoko was giving his presentation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is really, really shocking,\u201d said ANC MP Lerumo Kalako after Liphoko\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t have a government entity \u201cspeaking about itself in different tongues\u201d, said the ANC’s Nokuzola Tolashe.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are making us suspicious that we’re getting into another SABC situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
DA MP Phumzile van Damme thanked Liphoko for his candor. She said the situation is not quite as bad as the SABC yet, \u201cbut it’s getting there\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur duty as a committee is to arrest it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
DA MP Veronica van Dyk, who last week wrote to Maxegwana to request an urgent meeting on the matter, said she has been receiving letters from staff members with similar complaints. She referred to a letter dated August 15, where the staff asked for the committee\u2019s protection as Nkomo wanted to meet staff without Liphoko present.<\/p>\n
EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said the committee must reject the MDDA\u2019s report, to which the committee agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou must never think we are fools. We are not fools,\u201d he said, adding that no one, including Liphoko, should be absolved.<\/p>\n
Ndlozi said the problems at the MDDA are former communications minister \u201chonourable Faithful Muthambi\u2019s problems\u201d.<\/p>\n
At the start of the meeting, the committee heard Dlodlo\u2019s apology that she could not attend the meeting due to illness, but expressed its displeasure at the absence of Mahambehlala, who did not tender an official apology. The committee received word that she is on study leave.<\/p>\n
The committee resolved to meet next weekend to discuss the MDDA further in the presence of Dlodlo and Mahambehlala, and decide on a way forward, with the possibility of an inquiry into the MDDA mooted.<\/p>\n
News24<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe may well replace the letters MDDA with the letters SABC.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341004,"featured_media":173738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[361],"class_list":["post-226807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-sabc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226807"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226809,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226807\/revisions\/226809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Now read:\u00a0Union welcomes probe into SABC corruption<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"