The fallout over the impending disciplinary hearing of the SABC's head of news, Phathiswa Magopeni, is splitting the board of the public broadcaster.
Board chair Bongumusa Makhathini has requested the recusal of fellow board member Mary Papayya from deliberations on a separate grievance involving a pre-election interview with President Cyril Ramaphosa. The complaint was lodged by Magopeni against Makhathini and SABC group CEO Madoda Mxakwe.
Makhathini contends that Papayya, who is an executive of the South African National Editors Forum (Sanef), is conflicted because the editors’ body is demanding that Magopeni’s disciplinary hearing be held in public and is threatening legal action to force the matter if its call fails.
In a letter to deputy board chair Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi, which the Sunday Times has seen, Makhathini says Papayya must recuse herself from “any discussions or decision-making” on the grievance due to her position in Sanef, which has “declared an interest with respect to Ms Magopeni’s disciplinary proceedings”.
Papayya is a founding member of Sanef and serves on its management committee while also sitting on the SABC board, which has to decide the grievance.
Magopeni has laid a complaint against Makhathini and Mxakwe for alleged editorial interference, abuse of power and attempts to remove her from her position.
She painted a picture of how Makhathini and Mxakwe allegedly tried to force her to approve an unscheduled interview with Ramaphosa in the run-up to the recent local government elections.
She laid the complaint just days after being charged with negligence and bringing the SABC into disrepute after the investigative news programme Special Assignment aired the SABC had been interdicted from broadcast it.
Magopeni accused Makhathini and Mxakwe, in her complaint to the board, of using the Special Assignment issue to “destroy” and “hound” her out of the public broadcaster. She also accused them of targeting her because she refused their demands that ANC leaders be given more airtime on SABC platforms.
Magopeni is expected to appear before an SABC disciplinary committee this week in a process Sanef wants held in public to ensure fairness, failing which it has threatened legal action.
Makhathini contends that Papayya cannot participate in the hearing as it would be a conflict of interest.
“In this light, it cannot be acceptable that Ms Papayya participates in any further discussions and/or decision-making on a matter in which Sanef has declared a strong, legal interest,” Makhathini says in his letter to Mohlala-Mulaudzi.
Sanef chair Sbu Ngalwa told the Sunday Times on Friday that Papayya had put on hold her participation in the editors’ forum until the matter involving the SABC was concluded. She has recused herself from Sanef “at her own request”, Ngalwa said.
“She’s even left the WhatsApp groups for that matter,” he added.
It now seems widely as fact that I am part of a 'political conspiracy'
— Bongumusa Makhathini, SABC Board chair
Both Papayya and the SABC had not responded to questions by the time of going to print.
However, Papayya’s recusal from Sanef will not satisfy Makhathini. He said in his letter that the only acceptable solution would be for her to cease participating in SABC board meetings that discuss Magopeni, as she may not “act impartially”.
“Even if Ms Papayya recuses herself from Sanef meetings when SABC matters are discussed, this ... does not cure the conflict of interest. Ms Papayya sits on the Sanef management committee and the Sanef council which is that organisation’s highest decision-making body. Likewise, she sits on the SABC board which is the public broadcaster’s highest decision-making body and which will play a role in the outcome of the grievance lodged against me,” Makhathini said.
“It is therefore my respectful submission that Ms Papayya cannot participate in any further discussions and/or decisions on the grievance lodged against me.”
Makhathini said the allegations made by Magopeni against him had severely impugned his reputation and he wants the process looking into her grievance to be fair. His reputation had been “shredded” in the media as a result of Magopeni’s claims, he added.
“After four years of resolutely defending the independence of the SABC as board chairperson, it now seems widely accepted as fact, based on an untested grievance, that I am part of a ‘political conspiracy’ to interfere with SABC’s editorial independence and charge Ms Magopeni ... The damage to my reputation has been incalculable and it is therefore crucially important that the process to adjudicate this grievance is fair and impartial,” he said.
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