Wednesday, October 14, 2015

The convoluted court battle continues around the SABC's embattled matricless boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng as yet another court application looms.


Let's try and keep up:

■ The convoluted battle continues in a parallel court case to get rid of the SABC's famously matricless chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

Last week the Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA) ordered the SABC to start a disciplinary hearing against Hlaudi Motsoeneng and to suspend him. The SABC refused and said the public broadcaster is now taking the case to the Constitutional Court.

Meanwhile yet another separate court case is ongoing, to get Hlaudi Motsoeneng's appointment as COO dismissed (in effect for him to he fired).

That court case started on Tuesday, and will continue on Wednesday in the Western Cape High Court.

■ The SABC's Hlaudi Motsoeneng lied but the SABC's lawyer Ngwako Maenetje argues in court that one "must look at what kind of lie it is".
■ The SABC's lawyer Ngwako Maenetje argued in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday that Hlaudi Motsoeneng shouldn't be fired as COO since a disciplinary hearing must still take place (which ironically the SABC refuses to do and is the point of contention of yet another court case against Hlaudi Motsoeneng).
■ Hlaudi Motsoeneng is one of South Africa's most scandalous public figures who choose to brazen it out and continues to shame South Africa as a result.
■ Hlaudi Motsoeneng was "the chosen one". The position wasn't advertised, other candidates were not considered and he was appointed after the Public Protector's scathing report implicating him in maladminsitration at the SABC.
■ The SABC board and the minister of communications Faith Muthambi are slammed as being biased by the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party.
■ eNCA (DStv 403) reporting about the SABC and the case should perhaps just note in its reporting that Judge Dennis Davis appears as a judge on eNCA's Judge for Yourself.in the interest of transparency and disclosure.
■ Hlaudi Motsoeneng has now mounted what could be the last phase of his protracted legal battle to hang on to his job at the SABC with papers filed at the Constitutional Court.
■ Meanwhile SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago says Hlaudi Motsoeneng will remain in his job at the SABC despite the judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeals.
■ Democratic Alliance (DA) warns that it will go to court on a 3rd matter to seek a contempt of court application if the SABC fails to suspend Hlaudi Motsoeneng by 14:00 today. The DA says it is growing tired of the SABC's inaction on the case.
■ The SABC's failure to suspend Hlaudi Motsoeneng immediately will indeed put the SABC in contempt of court.