Deputy Speaker, there are a couple of things that I would like to raise. Firstly, when we as a committee looked at the current composition of the SABC Board, one of the things that was extremely noticeable was that the current SABC Board is largely male-dominated. So, that is one of the things that we looked at, the issue of gender representivity.
During the interviews we found that out of the five candidates that we interviewed, Ms Noluthando Gosa was one that came across exceptionally well. In fact, when we sat down as parties initially to discuss possible candidates that we would bring to the National Assembly, all parties mentioned the name of Ms Noluthando Gosa. So I thought that I should just make that clear right now.
However, Ms Noluthando Gosa is not being nominated only because she is a woman. She is being nominated - we nominated her and I think most of the parties agree, except for the DA, of course - because we agree that she has the qualities and the skills. If we look at her curriculum vitae, she has the necessary degrees in various areas of competency that we are needing in the SABC.
I think she has also proved herself to be a person of principle. The fact that she resigned from the SABC Board - because, as she told us, she could not tolerate and support the levels of corruption - I think shows that she is a person of principle. She was prepared to give up her position. [Interjections.]
Also, if she, in fact, does get to serve on the SABC Board, she will bring with her the experience that she gained from having been a serving SABC Board member. She brings an understanding and a knowledge of some of the things that are required.
Yes, if she is indeed appointed to the board, we would want to encourage her to serve her full term, and to stand by the principles that she has already indicated to us are the reasons why she resigned in the first place.
I want to say that as a Parliament here, if we all unanimously support the name of Ms Noluthando Gosa, we will be sending out a very clear and serious message about our support for gender representivity in our country.
I want to make an appeal ... [Interjections.]. No, no, no. I want to make an appeal to the DA at this late stage to change their position and reconsider their opposition to this particular candidate. Thank you very much.
Question agreed to (Democratic Alliance dissenting).
Ms Noluthando Gosa accordingly recommended for appointment to the Board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation.