Motsoeneng seeks another postponement

2nd June 2017 By: News24Wire

Motsoeneng seeks another postponement

Former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng

Former South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng will lodge another application to postpone disciplinary proceedings against him scheduled for Friday afternoon.

Motsoeneng faces charges of breaching the terms of his suspension following a media briefing he held on April 19.

In an affidavit to the disciplinary proceedings chair Nazeer Cassim, Motsoeneng is requesting that the SABC by no later than June 2 provide him with minutes of the SABC board meeting.

These minutes reflect its decision to review former public protector Thuli Madonsela's report and their subsequent approval of the report.

Western Cape High Court Judge Owen Rogers ruled that Motsoeneng could not work at the SABC at all, unless Madonsela's February 2014 report was set aside or a new disciplinary hearing cleared him of wrongdoing.

Rogers said the previous disciplinary hearings which cleared him were "wholly inadequate".

Motsoeneng's lawyer Zola Majavu has also stated in the affidavits that his client had failed to lodge a responding affidavit to the charges due to medical incapacity.

He said Motsoeneng had undergone an operation and will be expected to have a post-operation in the near future.

"The employee was placed under strict instructions to [rest] and not engage in any stressful or straining activity," the affidavit reads.

Majavu said he is left with an impression that Motsoeneng is not fully alert or aware of the matters discussed.

"Indeed this results in a fair bit of repetition," he said.

Motsoeneng also claims that he has been barred from access to his office at the SABC where he kept copies of minutes of board meetings which he would need to submit as evidence.

"His personal assistant has also for no reason been placed on leave," Majavu adds.

The documents, according to Majavu, support Motsoeneng’s allegations that board member Krish Naidoo lied in Parliament.

"In those circumstances I am instructed to seek a postponement of the hearing..."

Motsoeneng has suffered one court defeat after another. In November 2015, the Western Cape High Court declared his appointment as COO irrational and illegal and set it aside. The courts denied him leave to appeal.

In September 2016, the Supreme Court of Appeal also denied him leave to appeal.

His most recent defeat came at the hands of the Labour Court last week, when he was denied an application to interdict the current disciplinary hearings and have Cassim removed.

Majavu said Motsoeneng can only file responding affidavits on June 8, when he has sufficiently recovered and properly consulted with his legal team.