Motsoeneng challenges suspension ruling

30 Oct 2014

South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng has initiated a legal process to stall a court's order to suspend him.

(Image: SABC)

The legal process was initiated just hours before the public broadcaster's board was scheduled to meet and process the ruling.

Motsoeneng served his application for leave to appeal on other parties involved in the matter, his lawyer, Zola Majavu, said. Once the application was filed in court the SABC board could not suspend Motsoeneng and institute disciplinary processes until the appeal was finalised, Majavu told a media briefing.

SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago told Business Day the SABC board was to meet yesterday.

Last Friday, in the High Court in Cape Town, Judge Ashton Schippers ruled that the broadcaster should suspend Motsoeneng and institute disciplinary processes against him within 14 days.

In February, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela published a report that found Motsoeneng had misrepresented his qualifications to the broadcaster and inflated his salary from R1.5m to R2.4m in a year.

Not a strong case

Majavu said key grounds for Motsoeneng's appeal were that the Democratic Alliance (DA) did not have legal standing to bring the matter to court, and that the urgency stated in court papers had not been demonstrated.

Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos said Motsoeneng did not have a strong case, particularly on the argument that the courts could not instruct the SABC to suspend him, when the public broadcaster's board had previously cleared him of any wrongdoing.

"The courts have powers to make a ruling if the board did not act rationally," De Vos said.

Majavu said the application for leave to appeal was "in the process of being served" on interested parties in the matter, including the DA, the SABC board as well as the minister of communications.

No discussion?

"Before we finish this interview, chances are all of them will be notified. Once they have been served, it will then get filed in court," Majavu said.

"Once it is filed it will have a red court stamp. It will then mean we have effectively brought an application to appeal."

He said Motsoeneng would be suspended only if the SABC had served him with a notice of charges, which had not happened.

Sources close to the SABC said it was likely that the court order would not be discussed in an open board meeting but by a subcommittee, raising concerns that the minutes would not be recorded.

Source: Business Day, via I-Net Bridge

Source: I-Net Bridge

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