(Subcommittee) MDDA Board vacancies: Shortlisting candidates for interviews

Meeting report

Mr Mbombo Maleka, Content Advisor to the Portfolio Committee on Communications, presented to the Committee on the nominated candidates and their experience and expertise. He pointed out that the MDDA Act under Section 4 C dictated what kind of people should be nominated for the MDDA Board. Persons elected to the board must be committed to fairness, freedom of expression, openness and accountability. The candidates must possess suitable qualifications, expertise and experience in fields such as: community media, social labour and development issues, media economics, financial management and funding, advertising and marketing, journalism and broadcast programming, media research and training, literacy education and training, media law, and information and communication technology policy. He said two current Board members terms will end in October 2020.

The Chairperson allowed members to ask clarity seeking questions.

Ms N Kubheka (ANC) asked which skills were important for candidates to have.

Mr Maleka answered that the history of governance issues must be taken into consideration. On numerous occasions the Committee had almost held an enquiry that was similar to the one held with the SABC due to maladministration at the institution. A strong focus should be placed on auditing issues of the organisation as well as on funding as the entity by nature often deals with the disbursement of funds to community media across the country. This has been lacking at the organisation in terms of how it has been administered. A strong focus also needs to be place on financial issues as after 10 year of a clean audit, it had always been in the red zone. The candidates should be dedicated to ensuring service delivery to the people as if grants do not reach its intended place the community media will suffer. Someone who is a technologist would be ideal as they would need to know what role to play in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He said all the skills cannot be covered, but the Committee should focus on the above skills as the most urgent and the rest would be concluded at a later stage.

Committee members clarified administrative issues relating to documentation on nominated candidates.

The Chairperson said members should present their parties recommended candidates.

Ms Z Majozi (IFP) said she had read all the CV’s of nominated candidates and shortlisted those she thought were appropriate. The IFP recommended Lionel Ricardo, Ms Lichelle Barry, Ms Sibusisiwe Chimombe, Nomfundo Kakaza, Boitumelo Kgomo, Ms Blaise Koetisie, Ondile Unathi, Siyabonga Makgadla.  

Ms Kubheka said the ANC recommended Mr Lionel Ricardo, Ms Lichelle Barry, Ukuluzukwa, Ms Busisiwe Chimombe, Ms Marina Clarke, Mr Muthien Benedict, Mr Leonard Brenda, Nomfundo Kakaza, Kondile Kedama, Adv Leach Khumalo, Dumile Matheza, Mathebu Lahlengane, Mr Simphiwe Mbabane, Ms Rosie Motene, Mr Edward Naidoo, Ms Andiswa Ngcingwana, Ms Nikelwa Tengimfene and Dr Ayanda Vilakazi.

The Chairperson said Mr Vuyani Pambo (EFF) was struggling to join the meeting due to technical issues.

Mr C Mackenzie (DA) said the DA recommended Mr Edward Naidoo and Ms Marina Clarke as did the ANC and IFP.

The Committee deliberated on common candidates between the parties.

The Committee resolved that the following 20 candidates would be shortlisted for interviews.

Ms Lichelle Barry, Ms Sibusisiwe Chimombe, Ms Marina Clarke, Ms Bernedette Muthien, Mr Luzuko Buku, Mr Edwin Naidoo, Mr Lionel Adendorf, Ms Nomfundo Kakaza, Dr Ayanda Vilakazi, Ms Blaise Koetsie, Mr Simphiwe Mbabane, Ms Brenda Leonard, Mr Qondile Kedama, Adv Leah Khumalo, Mr Dumile Matheza, Mr Hlengani Mathebula, Ms Nikelwa Tengimfene, Ms Rosie Motene, Ms Nolitha Pietersen and Ms Andiswa Ngcingwana.

Mr Maleka advised the Committee on themes to guide interview questions. He said that once the shortlisting process was complete the support staff would complete security vetting and qualifications checks. This process usually takes 2 weeks, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was unclear how long this process would take. He said names of candidates are required to be publicised in order to allow the public to comment on the nominated persons. The support staff will provide an analysis of the comments that are submitted to the committee.

He said interview questions would not be prescribed to members, but broader thematic areas for questioning would be provided for engagement. Themes include the candidate explaining what qualifies them to serve on the MDDA Board. Another key theme is the impact of legislation and governance on the MDDA and knowledge of the work of the MDDA.

Discussion

Mr Mackenzie said the interview themes should be shared privately with the committee as the meeting was being livestreamed and this meant that candidates could possibly see what questions they would be asked.

The Chairperson said members would receive detailed documents on the themes and that it does not necessarily allude to any particular questions that would be asked.

Mr Maleka said the themes would assist the committee in how candidates would be assessed following interviews. Scoring for candidates are out of 10.

The meeting was adjourned.