ANC and Muthambi collide again
by Carol Paton and Bekezela Phakati,
2015-03-19 06:09:09.0
THE African National Congress (ANC) is gearing up for another fight with Communications Minister Faith Muthambi after she failed to back down during a parliamentary committee session on Tuesday on what appears to be her illegal suspension of an SABC board member.
The ANC has already called the minister to order over her position on set-top-box control, which she attempted to push through Cabinet in open defiance of the party’s policy.
Now, the ANC is contemplating sending Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to persuade her to change her position.
The ANC’s allies, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), have also made it clear that they will not let up in their opposition to Ms Muthambi, whom they believe is favouring broadcaster MultiChoice in many of her decisions.
The issue this time is the suspension of SABC board member Hope Zinde reportedly for voicing her opposition to a contract that was signed between the SABC and MultiChoice in July 2013.
The contract, which was finalised by chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng, allows the SABC to broadcast its 24-hour news channel on DStv, for which MultiChoice will pay R100m a year for five years. Part of the deal grants MultiChoice exclusive rights to the SABC archive.
One of the objections to the contract, raised by the SACP and Cosatu, is that it amounts to the "privatisation of our heritage" and will give MultiChoice exclusive rights to archive footage of historical importance.
In Tuesday’s meeting, Ms Muthambi argued in response to Democratic Alliance MP Gavin Davis that she had the authority to suspend board members on the basis of the SABC’s amended memorandum of incorporation.
She amended the memorandum in September, giving herself and Mr Motsoeneng control over the SABC.
However, the Broadcasting Act states the board members are appointed by the National Assembly and can be removed only by it and only following a due inquiry. But in the portfolio meeting, Ms Muthambi said the Companies Act trumped the Broadcasting Act.
Committee chairwoman Joyce Moloi-Moropa said she would seek a legal opinion on the matter.
Mr Davis said on Wednesday that he thought Ms Muthambi’s interpretation a highly unlikely one as the Companies Act is a general law of application while the Broadcasting Act applies specifically to the SABC. He said he had written to Ms Moloi-Moropa, requesting that the portfolio committee look into the allegations Ms Muthambi had made against Ms Zinde.
This is the second time in a month Ms Muthambi has encountered objections to her decisions from within her party. In the first, over set-top box control, she tried to go against an ANC resolution passed at its lekgotla in January which stated that set-top boxes must have a control mechanism.
She proposed the opposite to her Cabinet colleagues — a decision that would again have favoured MultiChoice — but was told to back down. Earlier this month she said that set-top boxes would have a control mechanism but that this would be "limited".
Faith Muthambi. Picture: TREVOR SAMSON
THE African National Congress (ANC) is gearing up for another fight with Communications Minister Faith Muthambi after she failed to back down during a parliamentary committee session on Tuesday on what appears to be her illegal suspension of an SABC board member.
The ANC has already called the minister to order over her position on set-top-box control, which she attempted to push through Cabinet in open defiance of the party’s policy.
Now, the ANC is contemplating sending Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to persuade her to change her position.
The ANC’s allies, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), have also made it clear that they will not let up in their opposition to Ms Muthambi, whom they believe is favouring broadcaster MultiChoice in many of her decisions.
The issue this time is the suspension of SABC board member Hope Zinde reportedly for voicing her opposition to a contract that was signed between the SABC and MultiChoice in July 2013.
The contract, which was finalised by chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng, allows the SABC to broadcast its 24-hour news channel on DStv, for which MultiChoice will pay R100m a year for five years. Part of the deal grants MultiChoice exclusive rights to the SABC archive.
One of the objections to the contract, raised by the SACP and Cosatu, is that it amounts to the "privatisation of our heritage" and will give MultiChoice exclusive rights to archive footage of historical importance.
In Tuesday’s meeting, Ms Muthambi argued in response to Democratic Alliance MP Gavin Davis that she had the authority to suspend board members on the basis of the SABC’s amended memorandum of incorporation.
She amended the memorandum in September, giving herself and Mr Motsoeneng control over the SABC.
However, the Broadcasting Act states the board members are appointed by the National Assembly and can be removed only by it and only following a due inquiry. But in the portfolio meeting, Ms Muthambi said the Companies Act trumped the Broadcasting Act.
Committee chairwoman Joyce Moloi-Moropa said she would seek a legal opinion on the matter.
Mr Davis said on Wednesday that he thought Ms Muthambi’s interpretation a highly unlikely one as the Companies Act is a general law of application while the Broadcasting Act applies specifically to the SABC. He said he had written to Ms Moloi-Moropa, requesting that the portfolio committee look into the allegations Ms Muthambi had made against Ms Zinde.
This is the second time in a month Ms Muthambi has encountered objections to her decisions from within her party. In the first, over set-top box control, she tried to go against an ANC resolution passed at its lekgotla in January which stated that set-top boxes must have a control mechanism.
She proposed the opposite to her Cabinet colleagues — a decision that would again have favoured MultiChoice — but was told to back down. Earlier this month she said that set-top boxes would have a control mechanism but that this would be "limited".
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