Note: A correction was made to this article
Sacked SABC news chief Phathiswa Magopeni has emerged as a strong contender for a seat on the public broadcaster's board.
Also in the running is another former SABC senior journalist, Thandeka Gqubule-Mbeki, who served as economics editor under Magopeni.
Among other candidates for a seat on the 12-member board are former EFF MP and practising attorney Magdalene Moonsamy and Lumko Mtimde.
A total of 37 candidates have been shortlisted by parliament’s communications committee ahead of the expiry of the current board's term on October 15.
Magopeni’s likely return to the Auckland Park broadcast towers has sparked interest, given the circumstances in which she left. The SABC axed her in January, citing a breakdown of trust.
An internal hearing in December had found her guilty of misconduct for failing to prevent the broadcast of an interdicted episode of the investigative news programme Special Assignment.
Her sacking was highly controversial amid suggestions that it was politically motivated. Magopeni disclosed that CEO Madoda Mxakwe and outgoing board chair Bongumusa Makhathini had tried to pressure her into instructing her newsroom to conduct an impromptu interview with President Cyril Ramaphosa in the run-up to the local government elections, a request she declined.
She was also accused by ANC bigwigs Fikile Mbalula and the late Jessie Duarte of having cost the governing party votes when SABC TV aired a daily programme critical of service delivery at local government level.
The SABC later reached a settlement with her but the details have not been disclosed.
We know that she did a lot to restore the credibility of the SABC as group executive of news
— SOS co-ordinator Uyanda Siyotula
Public broadcasting lobby group the SOS Coalition said appointing Magopeni to the board of nonexecutive directors would be a positive development for the SABC.
Magopeni has held other senior positions at the SABC and eNCA and was formerly an academic at the universities of Cape Town and the Western Cape. She has an MBA and is pursuing a PhD in business administration at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, attached to the University of Pretoria.
“We know that she did a lot to restore the credibility of the SABC as group executive of news,” said SOS co-ordinator Uyanda Siyotula. “Between her credibility and the change that she brought to the SABC, her understanding of internal processes at the SABC and having been somebody who was investigated by the board itself, it would be good for her to join the board,” she said.
“She seems to be somebody who runs things by the book and if you read her side of the story in this whole saga, you would see there were various attempts to deter her from her mandate and she stuck to it. Just for that characteristic, it will be good for her to join the board — then we’d know we’ve got somebody that can defend the SABC from political interference.”
Current SABC board members such as deputy chair Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi, David Maimela, Jack Phalane, Renee Horne, Sathasivan Cooper and Dinkwanyane Mohuba also stand a chance of serving another term as they too have been shortlisted.
Parliament is scheduled to start public interviews on Tuesday.
Mohlala-Mulaudzi’s inclusion is likely to raise eyebrows.
The Property Practitioners’ Regulatory Authority, where she is suspended as CEO, announced this week that a forensic investigation had implicated her in contravening pension fund legislation and rules.
She’s also facing a disciplinary hearing for making irregular appointments and flouting procurement processes. Siyotula indicated that the SOS will object to her candidacy.
“Her track record is not the greatest and we want people on the board that are fit to run the business.
“One of the struggles with the SABC is financial stability and people who are running down organisations are definitely not fit to be part of the board,” she said.
Zolani Matthews, who was removed as Prasa CEO because he held dual citizenship that he had allegedly not declared, has also thrown his hat in the ring.
The committee said it had received 120 nominations, including people who were nominated more than once by different people or organisations.
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