Thursday, August 15, 2013

Interviews for candidates for the new 12-member permanent SABC board will start next week in parliament.

Interviews for candidates for the new 12-member permanent SABC board will start next week Tuesday in parliament until Friday with the list of applications which has been narrowed down to 37 potential candidates.

multiparty task team was set up last week to cull through the 147 applications which were received to be on the SABC board.

The SABC is currently governed by an interim SABC board who's term will expire at the end of September.

The interim SABC board members were appointed temporarily after the mass exodus and resignations of the entire SABC board in March this year. That followed after claims of undue interference by the then-minister of communications, Dina Pule, who has now been found guilty of corruption by parliament's ethics committee.

The names of members of the current interim SABC board appears on the list of 37 shortlisted candidates, among which are Ellen Tshabalala (the current interim SABC chairperson), Noluthando Gosa (the current deputy SABC chairperson), Ronnie Lubisi and Vusumuzi Mavuso.

The list of 37 names also includes Lumko Mtide who was on the SABC board previously and resigned earlier this year, as well as Darkie Africa, a North West province politician.

The list also includes the name of the highly respected Kate Skinner, the previous co-ordinator and now a member of the vast public pressure group SOS Coalition, a group striving for responsible and quality public broadcasting in South Africa.

Bongani Khumalo, CEO of the Lotto operator Gindani, Thembinkosi Bonakele, the deputy commissioner of the Competition Commission, Charlotte Mampane who is a former SABC chief operating officer and Hope Zinde, a former SABC Africa presenter also made the shortlisted 37.

Also under the shortlisted 37 candidates are Zola Majavu, the lawyer and Premier Soccer League prosecutor, together with the columnist William Gumede and veteran journalist John Mattison.

Connie Seoposengwe, a former speaker of the Northern Cape province is also on the list as a candidate, together with Joe Makhafola, a former spokesperson for the department of communications.