Attempts for the SABC and the SIU to recoup R2.4-million from the broadcaster’s former COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng and his former entourage of the executives have fallen flat.
The Johannesburg High Court Judge Stuart Wilson on Monday said that the SIU investigate the approval of a scheme adopted by the SABC on July 24 and September 5 2016.
The SABC and SIU tried for the second time to get Motsoeneng and seven former executives of the broadcaster to cough up R2.4-million in total to pay back the money that was given to the artists dubbed Mzansi Legends.
The money was paid to artists
Motsoeneng unleashed the public broadcaster’s purse in 2016. This was when he, supported by his executives, dished out millions of rands to 53 musicians. The artists were given R50,000 each.
“The scheme was called the ‘Mzansi Music Legends’ scheme. It entailed paying a once-off gratuity of R50,000 to individuals identified as having … achieved ‘legendary’ status. Also artists who had not been accorded the financial reward …that successful artists can expect today. This irrespective of their race, and for reasons of past racially discriminatory practice. Ultimately, the Mzansi Music Legends scheme was only partially implemented,” said Wilson in the judgement.
The SABC and SIU argued in court papers against the Mzansi Music Legends scheme. They said the scheme turned out to have been unlawfully adopted and implemented.
According to court papers, this was established during the SIU investigation. This was carried out as part of a wider probe into the SABC’s affairs.
Investigation later found that scheme to pay artists was unlawful
“The unlawfulness of the scheme was conceded before us. And it is not necessary to explore the reasons for its unlawfulness in any detail,” said the SABC and SIU in court documents.
All respondents cited in their personal capacities, including Motsoeneng, were members of SABC’s executive and operating committees. This was at the time the scheme was adopted and implemented.
“Having concluded that the Mzansi Music Legends scheme had been unlawfully adopted and implemented, the SABC and the SIU applied to the Special Tribunal to review and set the scheme aside.
“This had to be done because the implementation of the scheme constituted ‘administrative action,’. It constituted this within the meaning of Section 1 of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act.
“The SABC was accordingly not entitled to simply mothball the scheme and disavow any entitlements the unpaid ‘music legends’ might have acquired under it,” reads the papers filed by the broadcaster and SIU.
Appeal dismissed
Despite SABC and SIU trying hard to convince the court to get Motsoeneng and cohorts to pay the money, Wilson dismissed the appeal.
“The respondents contended that they had no knowledge of the unlawfulness of the scheme. And that such knowledge could only have been acquired after they had left the SABC. An interim board had ordered the forensic investigation that unearthed the scheme and established its unlawfulness.
“The Special Tribunal agreed with these contentions. It held …that the SABC acquired knowledge of the unlawfulness of the scheme in August 2017. This was when the forensic investigation was ordered. That, the Special Tribunal held, is when the repayment claim fell due,” reads court documents of Motsoeneng and his former subordinates.
