SABC inquiry going in ‘right direction’ despite Maguvhe’s defiance

The parliamentary committee probing the fitness to hold office of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) board is going “in the right direction” despite Prof Mbulaheni Maguvhe’s no-show on Thursday.

SABC board chairperson Maguvhe had walked out of Wednesday’s sitting of the ad hoc committee‚ saying his rights as a partially blind person had been violated and complaining that “some members of the committee launched scathing attacks and insults at me”. He had been scheduled to appear as a witness on Thursday.

Committee chair Vincent Smith said he was “concerned about the absence of Maguvhe”‚ and Parliament’s Legal Services would summon him to appear before it as a witness on Tuesday next week.

Maguvhe‚ the board’s only remaining member‚ would also be ordered to “hand over certain documents that the committee requested”.

Despite his no-show‚ Smith said the first two days of the inquiry were “satisfactory”.

“We are confident that the committee is in the right direction and that the information gathered thus far will assist a great deal at the end when the committee prepares its final report‚” said Mr Smith.

On Friday‚ former board member Krish Naidoo‚ former acting group chief executive officer Phil Molefe‚ and former risk and governance group executive Itani Tseisi are to appear before the committee.

Earlier on Thursday‚ Smith rubbished Maguvhe’s complaints about his rights being violated as documents relating to the inquiry had not been provided in Braille.

Smith said all witnesses involved in the probe were contacted on November 17 and told that if “anybody needed any sort of translation” they should make requests for this five days prior to the attending the hearings‚ for “logistical reasons”.

“The very next day‚ Theresa Geldenhuys‚ who is the company secretary of the SABC‚ wrote back to us asking to provide all documents for the professor in Word format‚ so that they as the SABC would do the translations‚” he said.