We believe that it deals with majorgaps around
the removal of Board members in the present Broadcasting Act,
1999.The present Act only allows for the removal of individual
Board members on therecommendation of the Board itself, which
is clearly inadequate. However,although a number of positive
amendments have been made to the Bill, a numberof clauses remain
problematic including present appointment procedures,failures
to distinguish between executive and non-executive members to
theBoard, lack of criteria for the interim Board, and quorum
issues.
Separation of powers Given the urgent need toattend to
the above
issues the Coalition is
disappointed that so much attentionhas been paid to the so-called “separation
of powers” debates. Both the SABC and someother groupings
are of the opinion that appointments to the SABC Board areessentially
an executive function and that having the Speaker of Parliamentbeing
part of the “appointing body” is a violation of theConstitutional
principles of separation of powers. We, the Coalition, are ofthe
view that the concept of separation of powers has very little
applicationwhen it comes to the appointment of members of Boards
of bodies such as theSABC.
It is a universally accepted principle,
in terms of international bestpractise, that the executive alone
should never appoint the members tothe Boards of public broadcasters
precisely because of the danger toindependence that such purely
executive appointments pose. For the Coalition, the criticalissue
is that a multi-party representative body, such as Parliament,
has to becentrally involved in the appointments
process in such a way as to guardagainst executive interference
in appointments to the SABC Board.
Thus, wesupport the Bill’s
provisions that non-executive members of the bothordinary and
interim boards of the SABC must be nominated by Parliament andthat
such nominations ought to be binding on the appointing body.
In our view, it makeslittle difference, either way, as to who,
in fact, makes such appointmentsofficially i.e. the President
or the President acting jointly with the Speaker.The issues that
we believe are of greater importance include the following:
- The
Bill does not adequatelyaddress the problems around the appointments
of SABC Board members which gaverise to the current crises in
the first place. Consequently the Bill will notaddress these
crises.
The Bill does not distinguishbetween the appointment/removal
processes for executive and non-executivemembers of the Board
rendering
the Bill’s attempt to deal with thecurrent crises
at the SABC futile, in particular, the proposed interim boardwill
be inoperable unless such distinctions are properly made. In
our view,executive appointments, ought to be made by the non-executive
members of theBoard only – a view, shared by the Minister
as evidenced in recent courtpapers. This matter is a critical
flaw in the current Broadcasting Act and mustbe addressed.
- The
Bill does not currentlyprovide for any criteria for the interim
Board. This, in our view, is FAR moreserious than the whether
or not the Speaker plays a role in their appointment.The public
has to know that only suitably qualified people can be appointed
toan interim Board position.
- The Bill does not change
thequorum provisions of the Broadcasting Act and as a result
the interim boardwill not constitute a quorate board and will
therefore be unableto operate. Unless these four issuesare properly
addressed by Parliament before passing the Bill, the Bill will
beunworkable
and the current crises will remain unresolved, further weakening
theSABC and damaging the public interest in the process.
Formore
information contact:
Kate Skinner Campaign Coordinator
(082)
926-6404
Prakashnee Govender Cosatu Parliamentary Office
(021)
461-3835William Bird
Media Monitoring Project
(082) 887-1370
Faiza
Smith Misa-SA
(076) 995-9513
Rashweat Mukundu
Programme Specialist: Media Freedom Monitoring
MISA Regional Secretariat
21 Johann Albrecht Street
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek, Namibia
Tel: + 264 61 232 975
Fax:+264 61 248016
Mobile: 00 264 813 675 362
E mail rashweat@misa.org, misaalerts@gmail.com
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