SABC chief in new appeal application

[caption id="attachment_79547" align="alignright" width="300"] - BUSY DAY: SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng outside court in Cape Town Picture: ESA ALEXANDER[/caption]

FOR a brief time yesterday it looked like embattled SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng was to be suspended.

But a few moments later he appealed against a Cape Town High Court ruling, so halting the suspension.

This new move means his suspension cannot come into force until the appeal to the Supreme Court in Bloemfontein is dealt with.

Last year, the DA launched an action in the high court to compel the SABC to implement public protector Thuli Madonsela’s recommendations for action to be taken against Motsoeneng.

In February last year, Madonsela found that Motsoeneng had abused his power and increased his salary from R1.5-million to R2.4-million within one year. Madonsela’s other damning findings included that Motsoeneng lied about his matric qualifications and irregularly hiked salaries of various staff members and bloated the SABC’s salary bill.

The court ruled in favour of the DA in October.

But Motsoeneng‚ SABC‚ Communications Minister Faith Muthambi and Madonsela brought an application for leave to appeal against the judgment to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Yesterday, Judge Ashton Schippers granted the leave to appeal‚ but ruled that Motsoeneng should be suspended pending the appeal.

But immediately after the ruling Motsoeneng’s lawyer‚ Zola Majavu‚ said he would appeal against the judgment and that Motsoeneng would be back at work soon.

-Philani Nombembe