Chairperson, hon colleagues, the cause of the perpetual crisis at the SABC is political interference in the appointments of both the board and executive management, and operational issues. Many South Africans who wanted to contribute to the formation of a vibrant world-class public broadcaster, are now scarred and embittered people. Many of them resigned in disgust at the political machinations that colour most critical decisions at the SABC. Those I spoke to yesterday said that until the laws are changed to prevent political interference, nothing would change to save the corporation from the destructive path it is on.
The process the portfolio committee embarked on today to dissolve the board was bulldozed through the committee. We recognise that there's a crisis of governability at the SABC, but the whole process of dissolving the board and appointing an interim one reeked of ANC opportunism. This process has effectively circumvented legitimate nomination processes to find suitable candidates. It is little more than 24 hours since South Africans learned that six more board members had resigned to neutralise what was left of a crippled board. Had President Zuma acted decisively, when the chair and his deputy resigned 10 days ago, this crisis could have been avoided. Instead, we have ended up with a process that is characterised by ulterior motives, possibly the installation of a new crop of ANC cronies to do Luthuli House's bidding at Fawlty Towers.
Because the DA believes that political parties should have no role in nominating candidates for the SABC oard, we declined to take part in the listing process that is the norm in the committee's horse-trading in deciding the composition of entities' boards. The appointment of this interim board must be seen for what it is: a rushed, nontransparent and inadequate affair.
While we do not support the process by which this board was chosen and our instinct was to reject the process out of hand, we realise that the SABC is in a crisis situation and someone needs to sign the cheques and make the business decisions.
We wish the new board well in the Sisyphean task of getting the SABC operational until a properly nominated and elected board can be appointed. The DA will do everything possible to help ensure that this happens as soon as possible. [Applause.]