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ANC Members in the Portfolio Committee on Communications today backtracked on their support of the DA proposed parliamentary inquiry into the SABC.

I will therefore write to the Chair of the Portfolio Committee on Communications, Mr Thembinkosi Ngoma, and ask for written reasons as to why the parliamentary inquiry has effectively been abandoned by the ANC in committee despite it being agreed to in principle.

Additionally, the Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi, failed miserably in her duty as Minister when she today appeared before the committee. Rather than addressing the myriad substantive issues in need of urgent intervention, she unsurprisingly elected to attack mainstream media and opposition parties without proffering any solutions for how she would fix the mess at SABC- which is her apex priority. When probed, Acting CEO, James Aguna, further refused to tell the Committee what the amount is that was paid to Frans Matlala, citing the confidentiality agreement between the parties as an excuse. However, he said that the amount would be included in the annual report once tabled.

It is clear that ANC members of Parliament have been pressurised by Luthuli House, Minister Muthambi and their cohort at the SABC to abandon all reason and in so doing turn a blind eye to the rapidly degenerating state of affairs at the SABC. This is, no doubt in an effort to protect President Zuma’s close ally and SABC COO, Hlaudi Motsoeoeng, at all costs.

This about-turn by the ANC in committee confirms that it is the ANC itself that has sanctioned the rapid decline at the SABC and despite its public protestations to the contrary have overseen the chilling of free speech and breaches of the Freedom Charter which safeguards the broadcaster’s obligation to act in the public interest.

The public broadcaster continues to be rocked by scandal after scandal with Motsoeneng at the helm, who has overseen the financial mismanagement of the SABC. This complete crisis of leadership has contributed to the SABC’s expected loss of over a billion for the 2015/16 financial year.

We still maintain that the deep-set institutional rot at the SABC needs a full-scale parliamentary inquiry.

The DA will also follow up on the scheduling of the inquiry, which members of the committee in principle agreed to last week.

Parliament simply cannot allow itself to be made complicit in this destruction of a state institution which is is constitutionally mandated to protect and shield from narrow political interests.

Issued by DA