The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is in a crisis of the "highest magnitude", the corporation's suspended CE, Dali Mpofu, told Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Communications on Thursday.

Mpofu, speaking at the committee's inquiry into the financial and leadership collapse at the SABC, said the broadcaster was in urgent need of a new board.

"When this inquiry is finished it will be clear that, from the inception, this board is responsible for the mess the SABC is in," Mpofu said.

"This is a real, real crisis of the highest magnitude."

Eight members of the 12-member board have resigned so far, leaving the cash-strapped SABC powerless to take decisions. The broadcaster is seeking a R2-billion bail-out from the government.

Members of the board, including those that are currently serving the mandatory three-months resignation notice period, were summoned to Parliament to explain the meltdown at the broadcaster.

Mpofu told the committee that protecting the jobs of the between 4 000 and 6 000 workers at the SABC was vital. The workers were, he said, "sitting at a public institution on auto pilot, with no leadership".

He appealed to the committee to work on making the leadership crisis a priority. The issue of who was responsible for the crisis could be solved later on.

Some "very silly" things could happen at the broadcaster if it did not have a board soon. Mpofu said he could have even taken his briefcase and gone back to his office.

"Who would stop me," he said.

The Johannesburg High Court dismissed with costs the SABC's appeal against reinstating Mpofu last week.

Mpofu's legal wrangles with the broadcaster started when he suspended the SABC's former head of news Snuki Zikalala amid accusations that Zikalala leaked confidential documents and an internal memorandum.

The board suspended Mpofu on May 7, 2008, arguing that he did not have the authority to suspend Zikalala. This was the first of three suspensions.

Nadia Bulbulia and Alison Gillwald were the only two members of the SABC's board to attend the inquiry, which is due to reconvene next week.

Both were reluctant to take questions from the committee, saying they had not been given adequate chance to prepare.

"There has been a long history in terms of how did we get here," Bulbulia said.

Gillwald said the financial crisis at the SABC had been at the top of the agenda since the new board had started.

"A whole range of things have been engaged on to reduce the R600-million budget," she said.

Gillwald said the committee had to take some of the blame because it had reappointed more than one-half of the previous SABC board.

"The committee endorsed activities and behaviour that went on in the boardroom before," she said.

"I don't know where the surprise comes from."

Committee chairperson Ismael Vadi said the board members would speak in their individual capacities in the inquiry and not as a collective.

"We don't want a view from the board," he said.

"We want to understand what went wrong. Individuals will have to explain."