(Subcommittee): SABC Board Interviews day 3

Meeting report

At the start of each interview, the Chairperson explained the Committee’s mandate in line with the rules of the National Assembly and the Constitution, the proportional representation of political parties on the interview subcommittee and the purpose of the interview. The Chairperson said that the candidate should treat this process as more of a conversation rather than a formal interview and would be about 45 minutes. Every candidate would be given five minutes to introduce themselves which give them an opportunity to indicate the skills, experience and expertise they would bring to the SABC board. The candidate should bear in mind that Committee Members had already reviewed the CV. Each question and answer would be allotted five minutes. The Chairperson would ask questions only for clarity. Lastly, the candidate would be given three minutes to give their own concluding remarks.

At the end of each interview, the Chairperson noted the procedural steps after the interviews. He assured the candidate that the Committee Secretariat was always available for administrative queries and thanked the candidate for taking part in the interview. He assured the candidate that the process was transparent and that the candidate may follow the Committee engagements with the other candidates on the digital platform.

Candidate 1: Ms Ntshwareng Bapela
Dr M Basopu (ANC) noted the candidate’s work experience in the private sector and a lack of experience in the public sector. As the SABC is a public broadcaster, what skills could she contribute to the SABC and what were her proposed strategies to turnaround the entity and bring it back to its former glory?

Dr Basopu indicated that the State Capture report had identified a number of issues such as the mismanagement of funds and corrupt practices at the SABC. He asked, if appointed, what measures the candidate would put in place to avoid a future recurrence and how she would recover the public funds that had been squandered.

Ms D Kohler Barnard (DA) asked since the country is approaching its 2024 national election, what changes the candidate would make to the SABC, if appointed.

Ms Kohler Barnard asked about the candidate’s opinion of the SABC's recent decision and the performance of the last board. The SABC is competing in an environment where viewers have a myriad of opportunities to access media. She noted the SABC axing of over 600 very experienced employees and replaced them with 400 new staff with little training offered.

Ms Kohler Barnard asked the candidate about her plan to turn the SABC around.

Ms Kohler Barnard highlighted the corrupt practices within the SABC as revealed by the Zondo Commission and asked the candidate to comment on that.

Ms Kohler Barnard asked for the candidate’s input on the SABC’s dramatic drop in both viewer- and listenership due to its lack of content whereas R800 million designated for content purposes was unused.

Ms A Mthembu (ANC) asked the candidate to elaborate on her strategy to deal with the mismanagement of funds.

The Chairperson asked the candidate to indicate how, as a SABC board member, she would manage the various vested interests of the shareholder, the board, and Parliament political parties. Those stakeholders inevitably will attempt to influence the entity for their own agenda. Aware of those vested interests, how did she plan to maintain those relationships whilst ensuring the independence of the SABC as a public broadcaster?

Candidate 2: Ms Aifheli Makhwanya
Ms Kohler Barnard noted the candidate’s wide experience in policy development and cultural industry marketing. She asked the candidate, in her view, if the SABC has let down the arts community in South Africa as the production of local content has been seemingly abandoned. R800 million designated for content creation at the SABC has not been spent whereas South African actors, producers, and artists are sitting at home unemployed. She asked for her input on what should be done to change the situation.

Ms Kohler Barnard said the country is approaching its 2024 national election and she asked what changes the candidate would make to the SABC, if appointed.

As the Zondo Commission revealed intense corruption within the SABC, Ms Kohler Barnard asked the candidate what her solutions would be to turn the entity around financially.

Dr Basopu indicated that the State Capture report had identified glaring mismanagement of funds and corrupt practices at the SABC. He asked, if appointed, what measures the candidate would put in place to avoid a future recurrence and how she would recover the public funds that had been squandered.

The Chairperson followed up and asked how the candidate's financial knowledge and expertise would help to broaden and improve the SABC's revenue.

Candidate 3: Ms Rearabetsoe Motaung
Ms Mthembu asked what the candidate's turnaround strategy would be to assist the financial sustainability of the SABC.

Ms Mthembu asked the candidate about her motivation for applying for an SABC board position.

Ms Z Majozi (IFP) explained the context of the SABC's adopted strategy and the bailout conditions of Treasury. One of the conditions was to manage the entity’s exorbitant salary bill. What mechanisms would the candidate put in place to ensure that the salary bill would not exceed the ceiling threshold?

Ms Majozi highlighted that the SABC Board had almost faced dissolution in 2020 because board members had disagreed on certain things. The instability of the board was detrimental to the SABC. She asked the candidate to demonstrate if she had the leadership skills to disagree without having bad feelings about her colleagues and present a united front to the public.

The Chairperson noted the candidate’s emphasis on marketing the SABC, digital and creative content. He said that the SABC had R800 million which was unspent but should have been spent on content creation. Faced with this difficulty, how did the candidate plan to turn the situation around if appointed to the board.

Ms Kohler Barnard repeated the Chairperson’s question and asked the candidate to comment on that.

Ms Kohler Barnard asked about the candidate’s opinion on the SABC’s recent decision to axe over 600 very experienced employees and replace them with 400 new staff with little training offered. What would the candidate do to turn the situation around given that many current employees had indicated their wish to leave the entity?

As the Zondo Commission revealed intense corruption within the SABC, Ms Kohler Barnard asked the candidate what her solutions would be to solve this.

Ms Kohler Barnard noted the country is approaching its 2024 national election and asked what changes the candidate would make to the SABC if appointed as election time would inevitably bring undue influence fighting for more coverage in the media space.

Candidate 4: Ms Palesa Kadi
Ms Mthembu asked the candidate what her turnaround strategy would be to assist the financial sustainability of the SABC.

Ms Mthembu asked, if appointed, how the candidate would effectively utilise the unspent R800 million fund that should have been utilised on content creation.

Ms Kohler Barnard asked the candidate since the country is approaching its 2024 national election, what changes she would make to the SABC if appointed as election time is a five-year cycle which would inevitably bring undue influence from journalists and political parties fighting for more coverage in the media space.

Ms Kohler Barnard asked for the view of the candidate on the sacking of the SABC head of news.

Ms Kohler Barnard noted some of the innovative ideas in the candidate’s response and asked if she believed that her ideas would be sufficient to get the SABC out of its current financial debacle.

Ms Kohler Barnard asked about the candidate’s opinion on the SABC’s recent decision to axe over 600 very experienced employees and replace them with 400 new staff with little training offered.

Ms Kohler Barnard said that the R800 million designated for content creation at the SABC had not been spent. Given the complex dynamic and people’s disinterest in SABC programmes due to their lack of content, she asked what skills the candidate possessed to deal with such complexity and content production.

Given the broad context of the massive wave of digital migration, Ms Majozi asked the candidate what other mechanisms she had in mind to generate more revenue for the SABC in order for it to become self-sufficient.

Ms Majozi asked the candidate to demonstrate if she had the leadership skills to disagree without having bad feelings about her colleagues and present a united front to the public.

Candidate 5: Ms Phathiswa Magopeni
Dr Basopu asked the candidate to explain why she had been dismissed from the SABC as head of news and the reason for her wanting to return as a board member.

Dr Basopu indicated that the State Capture report had identified glaring mismanagement of funds and corrupt practices at the SABC. He asked the candidate, if appointed, what measures she would put in place to avoid a future recurrence and recover the public funds that had been squandered.

Ms Kohler Barnard asked the candidate to describe how involved SABC board members had been in her candidate’s dismissal.

Ms Kohler Barnard asked about the status of the current newsroom and if journalists enjoy freedom of speech. As a former journalist herself, she would encounter intimidating emails with instructions when the country approached the election every five years.

Ms Kohler Barnard asked since the country is approaching its 2024 national election, if appointed, what processes the candidate would push for or push to remove to protect credible news output across all platforms.

Ms Kohler Barnard asked the candidate to share some of her plans to turn the SABC around given that it is currently experiencing massive revenue loss.

Ms Kohler Barnard said the SABC was no longer competitive in this environment as it was in the past. Nowadays, youth spend their time on their phones and tablets, preferring to use online streaming services such as Netflix and look at the SABC as an outdated joke. She asked the candidate to give some ideas on how she could get the SABC phoenix to rise from the ashes.

Ms Kohler Barnard noted the SABC’s axing of over 600 very experienced employees and replaced them with 400 new staff with little training offered. This was a decision that had gone through the board and she asked for the candidate’s input on that decision.

Ms Kohler Barnard said that the SABC had not spent R800 million that should have been spent on content creation which led to a significant drop in viewer- and listenership. She asked the candidate to comment on that.

Ms Majozi asked the candidate if she intended to return to the SABC to settle a score given her unpleasant experience there.

Ms Majozi asked what mechanisms the candidate would put in place to ensure that the salary bill would not exceed the ceiling threshold, if appointed.

Ms Majozi asked the candidate if she had the leadership skills to disagree without having bad feelings towards her colleagues and to present a united front to the public. This Committee had witnessed the factionalism resulting in the SABC Board coming to the Committee and presenting differing opinions which were not good for the stability of the entity.

Dr Basopu said he remained uncertain. Besides the candidate's passion for correcting the wrongs at the SABC, he asked her to take the Members into confidence and convince them how she would deal with the tensions should the people who had dismissed her still at the SABC. The Committee wanted all the wrongs of the SABC to be corrected and that there was stability.

The Chairperson asked for more details around the candidate’s dismissal and if the disagreement about programmes was of a political interference nature.

The Chairperson’s understanding was that there are mechanisms in place such as reporting to the ICASA board to protect persons working in the news field. He asked if the matter had been reported to ICASA and if not, why the candidate had not reported it.

The Chairperson asked if the candidate had ever raised her concerns within the SABC and why her grievances had not been accepted. He asked for reassurance from the candidate that should she be appointed to the board, it would not cause division within the current board or bring instability to the entity.

Candidate 6: Mr Paris Mashile
Ms Kohler Barnard asked since the country is approaching its 2024 national election, what changes he would make to the SABC, if appointed, to ensure fairness and freedom of news coverage.

Ms Kohler Barnard said that the SABC’s axing of over 600 very experienced employees resulted in the lack of content in its programmes, however, the entity is also sitting with an amount of R800 million which was unspent but should have been spent on content creating. She asked the candidate’s view on that conundrum.

Ms Kohler Barnard asked the candidate to elaborate on his turnaround plan for the SABC and his plan to address the corruption highlighted by the Zondo Commission.

Mr L Molala (ANC) asked the candidate to identify the SABC’s governance challenges as it had a massive amount of unspent funds but had incurred a R200 million revenue loss in the past financial year. The Auditor General had also raised concern over its irregular expenditure.

Mr Molala asked the candidate to indicate how he could use the SABC as a key driver in the nation-building process to build one national identity and promote social cohesion.

Mr Molala asked the candidate to clarify if his position at the regulator, ICASA, would be a conflict of interest with the role of an SABC board member.

Ms Majozi asked the candidate if he had leadership skills to disagree without having bad feelings about his colleagues and present a united front to the public. More importantly, she asked if the candidate had the type of leadership skill to persuade others and find common ground with his colleagues.

The Chairperson adjourned the meeting.