Mr Speaker, the current problems besetting the SABC call for urgent interventions aimed at beginning the process to save the SABC as an important public institution.
We take the view that the SABC, as a public broadcaster, is an important national asset which must be saved from destruction at all costs. The spate of resignations of board members has led to the current paralysis, which hampers the ability of the SABC to operate efficiently in fulfilment of its mandate as a public broadcaster.
Quite clearly, we cannot, in the national interest, allow the present paralysis to strangle the SABC to death. It is for this reason that we call upon this National Assembly to dissolve what is left of the board, so as to allow for a process for the nomination of an interim board to take place to run the affairs of the SABC for six months while a new board is being selected. [Applause.]
Removing the board will not, however, solve all the problems at the SABC. It is imperative that we get to the root causes of the problems which have led to this debacle.
That is why we in the IFP are calling for a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate all the factors, including the funding model, which led to this paralysis, and to make recommendations which will give this nation a true public broadcaster.
Such an inquiry will help all the people concerned - that is those who served on the board and the executive management - have their names cleared or otherwise of all sorts of unsavoury accusations and allegations and, most importantly, it will help determine whether there has been any political interference and manipulation. I thank you, Mr Speaker. [Applause.]