Parliament’s communications portfolio committee will on Tuesday begin shortlisting candidates to be appointed to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board for a five-year term.

The current interim board's tenure expires in late September. President Jacob Zuma appointed it on March 26, for a six-month period, following Parliament's approval.

The interim members - chairperson Khanyisile Kweyama, John Matisson, Mathatha Tsedu, Febe Potgieter-Gqubule and Krish Naidoo - have received praise for their work in turning the SABC around.

The committee will begin by cutting down the list of 363 candidates the public had nominated, with the remainder to be called in for interviews by the committee at later stage.

All incumbent interim board members are on the list, with the exception of Potgieter-Gqubule.

Some of the other names include former board member Rachel Kalidass, and prominent SABC lawyer and Hlaudi Motsoeneng's counsel Zola Majavu.

Also included in the 363 are actor Tony Kgoroge, former ANC youth league deputy president Ronald Lamola and former SABC news head Snuki Zikalala.

The SABC board may have a maximum of 12 non-executive members, including a chairperson and deputy, and three executive members - the chief executive, and financial and operations officers.

It needs at least nine members, including either the chairperson or deputy, to form a quorum.

Once the committee has agreed on a final shortlist, the National Assembly will vote on it. If successful, the president must then approve their appointments, and name both the chairperson and deputy, before they can take office.

The board will serve for a maximum term of five years.

The DA on Monday called for the process to be transparent.

"In order to ensure that Parliament discharges its duty in line with the requirements of the Broadcasting Act, the DA will push that the process be conducted with openness, transparency, and most importantly, with public participation," DA spokesperson and committee member Phumzile van Damme said.

The party will ask that the CVs of all shortlisted candidates be published on Parliament’s website to allow the public, civil society, and interested parties to submit comments.

Van Damme said the call is in line with recommendations by the ad hoc committee which conducted the inquiry into the SABC, that the process be transparent.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 09:30 in committee room E249 in the National Assembly building at Parliament, and will likely be aired on Parliament TV, channel 408, on DSTV.