SABC board 'fantastic four' interviews end today

Today's session, which started promptly at 9am and is due to proceed until 1.45pm at the premises of the Parliament's Old Assembly (hall V454), will see six candidates appear for the last batch of interviews, according to Thembinkosi Ngoma, committee secretary of the portfolio committee on communications.

The last six candidates are as follows: Bruno Peter Druchen (head of DeafSA), Cawekazi Mahlati (advocate and former Gauteng Tourism Authority CEO), Govin Reddy (academic and Mail & Guardian board member), Maureen Manyana-Matome (SAFCOL CFO), Vusumuzi Mavuso (Johannesburg regional government administrator) and Fawzia Moodley (former SABC journalist).

The committee will afterwards assess all the interviews and make a choice of the four members, who will then be presented to the National Assembly on 3 February. The committee, which is reportedly targeting candidates with sound financial management skills, said the four appointees will have to take up their positions in the first quarter of 2011.

Financial management skills

It is believed that the reason behind this specific target - financial management skills - is because of the bizarre way in which the public broadcaster has been managed in the past five years or so. Allegations of financial irregularities, plundering and excessive, unnecessary and unauthorised spending have surfaced in the past - factors many critics believe plunged the Auckland Park-based institution into misery and financial darkness, stirring it into a deep and serious financial crisis.

Broadcasting lobby group coordinator Kate Skinner said: "We need to ensure that the SABC board operates effectively. Getting good people onto the board is critical. The tasks facing the SABC in 2011 are enormous - particularly around the turnaround strategy and digital migration."

Board members David Niddrie, Barbara Masekela, Felleng Sekha and Makgatho Mello quit the board last year allegedly to protest against chairperson Dr Ben Ngubane's 'autocratic' style of leadership.