DA Spokesperson and member of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications Phumzile Van Damme has accused Minister of Communications and Telecommunications Stella Ndabeni Abrahams of keeping a SABC Board resignation a secret.
The DA MP, in a media statement issued on Tuesday, said Ndabeni Abrahams failed to inform Parliament’s Communications committee about Bernadette Muthein’s resignation from the SABC board, last month, and she now wants Muthien to appear before the committee for an exit interview to find out if her resignations had nothing to do with feuds within the board.
“The DA has been reliably informed that both President, Cyril Ramaphosa and the Communications and Digital Technologies, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams are aware of her resignation. Despite this knowledge, the Minister who ordinarily informs Parliament of resignations from the entities she is responsible for, has not informed the Committee of Communications and Digital Technologies,” said Van Damme in a statement.
Sunday World reported about Muthien’s resignations last month and that there were allegations that she resigned in protest.
However, the SABC board and President Ramaphosa Spokesperson Khusela Diko said she had resigned for health reasons.
Van Damme said Parliament should have been informed about Muthien’s resignations because it was not only the body that the SABC reports to, but that it has the power to appoint and can remove board members from the public broadcaster.
“That it has not been informed of Ms Muthien’s resignation is yet another example of the disdain for Parliament Minister Ndabeni-Abrahams has been displaying of late,” she said.
The DA MP said though reasons were not clear as to why Muthien resigned, she said the DA intends to call the SABC board member for an exit interview for her disclose if there were any matters that parliament needs to be aware of, that caused her resignations.
“History has shown that once resignations from the SABC board begin, it usually means the beginning of strife at the public broadcaster. The DA will not stand by if there are any indications that the SABC may once again plunged into crisis. If steps can be taken to prevent this, it needs to happen early,” concluded Van Damme.
The SABC board is expected to appear before the parliament committee on Communications today to face questions about their decision to retrench more than 600 employees.
It is believed that they will also face questions about board divisions, as the board was divided into two factions.
