Former SABC chairman Kanyi Mkonza \u2014 who this week admitted that she \u201csucks as a leader\u201d \u2014 is not going down without a fight.<\/p>\n
In a seven-page written submission to parliament\u2019s communications portfolio committee she said the board was pressured into resigning because it dared to expose corruption and looting within the broadcaster.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Two days earlier, 10 of the 11 remaining members of the board, asked the committee to dissolve it with immediate effect \u2014 with member Andile Mbeki imploring, \u201cPlease dissolve us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three-day inquiry revealed an unrepentant and hostile board and SABC management at loggerheads with each other.<\/p>\n
Mkonza said their strong political links had made senior executives \u201cuntouchables\u201d and a law unto themselves. She said they were responsible for \u201clooting\u201d an organisation that is now drowning in an R834-million deficit.<\/p>\n
Mkonza was one of three board members to submit letters to the committee \u2014 the others being former deputy chairman Christine Qunta and businesswoman Gloria Serobe.<\/p>\n
Mkonza did not mention names, but alleged that:<\/p>\n
Mkonza said: \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that the board was unable to act because of management\u2019s \u201cperceived political and parliament(ary) protection\u201d, its \u201clitigious nature\u201d, pressure on the board to resign and \u201cnegative media and public perceptions on the board\u201d.<\/p>\n
Responding to the allegations, two senior managers said Mkonza\u2019s submission was \u201cthe last desperate act of someone who has consistently embarrassed herself and the SABC\u201d.<\/p>\n
Said one: \u201cShe and the board are directly responsible for the mess we\u2019re in. It hasn\u2019t 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 \u2014 which cost the SABC over R80-million \u2014 undermined management and its concerns over wasteful expenditure, and was always infighting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said another: \u201cThe bottom line is Kanyi was out of her depth and did not have any experience of running a complex, multibillion-rand organisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another executive described Mkonza\u2019s statement as sour grapes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf she was the chairperson then she should have raised it through the proper channels rather than now placing them in the public arena.\u201d<\/p>\n
SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said management would appear before the committee again on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese issues were raised in parliament and if they are raised on Tuesday then we will definitely respond,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mkonza further said lack of support had led to \u201copportunistic behaviour by management\u201d.<\/p>\n
Examples of this, she said, included former CEO Dali Mpofu\u2019s suspension of news head Snuki Zikalala, the use of \u201cairtime and resources\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
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 \u201chumiliated\u201d when it first appeared before the committee in April 2008.<\/p>\n
She questioned the legal status of parliament\u2019s inquiry and said the board was still capable of carrying out its fiduciary duties.<\/p>\n
\u201c(There) was no immediate threat of the board collapsing without it fulfilling its fiduciary duties and oversight role,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mkonza has in the past year endured one controversy after another, and several damning allegations still hang over her.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
In her letter, Serobe said that during the past 18 months the tenure of the board had been \u201cextremely difficult and sometimes abusive\u201d, 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.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cnot been properly heard orally nor through written submissions\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI therefore once more appeal to you to provide us with an adequate period, being at least one week to 10 days, for written submissions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the national assembly will be asked to adopt the committee\u2019s resolution and then ask President Jacob Zuma to dissolve the board with immediate effect.<\/p>\n
The legal and executive services department in Zuma\u2019s office confirmed its receipt of six letters of resignation from the board.<\/p>\n