African National Congress’s (ANC) First Deputy Secretary-General, Nomvula Mokonyane, says that the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) deserves to have stability and that the ANC doesn’t want to be accused of interfering in how the public broadcaster is run.
She was speaking to SABC News at an International Pentecostal Holiness Church Easter Service in Zuurbekom, Gauteng, where 79 couples were married.
Parliament is expected to revert to the original list of candidates it nominated to serve on the SABC board after a scathing legal opinion questioned President Cyril Ramaphosa’s apparent second-guessing of the legislature’s processes.
She says the ANC is concerned about the delay in appointing a new SABC board.
“We all share the concerns of the delays, and the complications that have arisen; they are unfortunate. We hope that parliament will then heed the advice that they’ve been given, and let’s have stability and have the board of the SABC functioning. It is not in our space, unless you want us again to be accused of political interference with the public broadcaster. We share what the public is concerned about, the SABC does need stable leadership.”
Ramaphosa denies acting inappropriately by not appointing Board: Thandi Smith
Meanwhile, legal analysts say President Cyril Ramaphosa may approach the Constitutional Court to try and review the resolution of the National Assembly on the candidates to be considered for SABC Board.
However, they say that the legal option is unlikely to be successful.
This follows the opinion of parliament’s legal advisor Andile Tetyana who found that the president acted unlawfully when he wrote to parliament, referring the matter back to the National Assembly.
Tetyana says Ramaphosa is not legally empowered to prescribe that the National Assembly reconsider its recommendations to him on candidates for the SABC Board.
The apex court is the only relief that can be sought by the president, as the two spheres of government fail to reach common ground on the matter.
“The constitution creates a mechanism which effectively directs the president to bring that application in the Constitutional Court because what would have happened in this scenario would be two spheres of government not coming to agreement with respect to the powers of either of them. So essentially, powers of the National Assembly are with respect to the appointment of the SABC non-executive board members and that dispute would fall to the Constitutional Court to adjudicate it,” says legal analyst Reitumetsi Phiri.
Parliament’s Communications Committee mulls over SABC Board predicament:
