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The Chairperson of the Communications Portfolio Committee, Humphrey Maxegwana, today point-blank refused to indicate when the appointment of an interim board for the SABC will be scheduled.

In response to a question by my colleague Veronica van Dyk as to when these vital appointments would be dealt with by the Committee, Maxegwana failed to answer and instead said that the DA should make a written submission.

This is despite the Broadcasting Act requiring that an interim board be appointed within 10 days of the dissolution of the SABC’s board.

The SABC ceased to exist on the resignation of former Chairperson, Mbualeni Maguvhe on 19 December 2016. The appointment of an interim board is therefore now 57 days overdue.

The refusal by the ANC members of the Communications Portfolio to appoint an interim can only be seen as a failure by the ANC members of the Committee to take seriously their commitment to fix what was broken at the broadcaster by the reign of terror under Hlaudi Motsoeneng with his complicit Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi.

Is the delay in order to allow Motsoeneng and his cronies to loot the SABC down to the last teaspoon?

The appointment of an interim board is vital if stability at the national broadcaster is to be restored so that the SABC can get back to the business of providing impartial news and information to millions of South Africans each day.

Issued by DA