The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Communications, Boyce Maneli, has refuted allegations of a political intention to stall the appointment of a new SABC Board.
The Public Broadcaster is without a board following hold-ups in appointing a new one, due to delays in the vetting of prospective candidates.
The oversight committee says at least half of the candidates who were interviewed, have been vetted by the State Security Agency. The Committee says given past experiences, it doesn’t want to take chances and recommend for appointment, people who have not been vetted.
It says while it wants the process to be finalised as soon as possible, it wants all candidates to undergo vetting. It says so far the State Security Agency has issued security clearance for at least 17 candidates.
“There is no political intention to stall the process but it has been a prudent decision by the committee that they would want to have people that have been vetted and this is part of responding to the problem of entities including the Sabc on state capture,” explain Maneli.
Some MPs have questioned the timing, saying the oversight committee has been aware for months that the previous board’s tenure was coming to an end.
“It’s common knowledge that the vetting system is way behind thousands of cases were still to be vetted so there is an inevitable delay why did the committee not start the process much earlier perhaps in February putting the ads out to be hassled through as we were yes we got the job done as a committee but inevitable the obtaining of the clearance was going to be an issue,” says DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard.
“Let’s just wait for the process to unfold and after that, we will proceed as such,” says IFP MP Zandile Majozi.
The committee says it will start recommending candidates to serve on the Board once the process of vetting is finalised.
The 12 recommended candidates will have to be approved by the National Assembly before being referred to the President for the appointment.
SABC GCEO Madoda Mxakwe gives update on the latest developments at the public broadcaster
