SABC execs urge removal of board

Staff, unions protest Mpofu's suspension

By CHRISTELLE DE JAGER

JOHANNESBURG -- Senior staff and managers at the troubled South African Broadcasting Corp. have demanded that President Thabo Mbeki remove the pubcaster's board by Friday, after the board suspended CEO Dali Mpofu last week for the second time.

Mpofu's first suspension, for "disobeying the board's instructions," on May 7 -- the day after he had suspended his controversial "pro-Mbeki" head of news Snuki Zikalala -- was overturned last month by the Johannesburg High Court, which also refused SABC the right to appeal.

The latest suspension, which Mpofu has said he will again challenge in court, gives Mpofu three options: take voluntary leave, accept a suspension pending an inquiry into his performance or reach a settlement for a severance package.

In a five-page memorandum, the board accuses Mpofu of financial mismanagement, failing to secure key sport broadcasting rights deals, suspending Zikalala without consulting the board and "undermining the SABC by repeatedly making statements disrespectful of the board and under oath in the high court proceedings challenging his suspension."

Some of the charges relate to matters from two years ago, before the current board was appointed in December 2007.

Over the past year the pubcaster has become embroiled in the political battle for control of the ANC between Mbeki and challenger Jacob Zuma, who was elected head of the ANC in December.

Zuma supporters had maintained that SABC news coverage was biased toward Mbeki.

Mbeki was accused of illegally installing his supporters on the board, which has been widely accused of being unrepresentative.

Sipho Sithole, SABC's head of group management and strategy, handed a letter containing the demand to the president's office on Tuesday.

"We are concerned as management that this board is not fit, so this board must go," he said.

According to Sithole, more than 100 people, including the management and other senior personnel at the pubcaster, supported the call for the board's removal.

If Mbeki could not sack the board by Friday, SABC management wanted a meeting with him to explain the case further, said Sithole.

SABC staff members, trade unions, media rights groups and civil society organizations protested Mpofu's suspension outside SABC buildings around the country this week, with senior SABC managers also accusing the board of interfering so as "to make their jobs impossible."