SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng was on Saturday evening found not guilty on all charges against him at his disciplinary hearing, according to media reports.
Motsoeneng faced three charges – gross dishonesty for lying about his matric certificate, gross misconduct, and abuse of his position.
Two months ago the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that Motsoeneng be suspended and face a disciplinary hearing.
The Democratic Alliance will demand a transcript of the “whitewashed” internal disciplinary hearing against SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng and take the decision on review, DA federal executive chairman James Selfe said on Saturday.
Motsoeneng was found not guilty on all charges at his hearing on Saturday evening, two months after the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that Motsoeneng be suspended and face a disciplinary hearing.
“The DA is unsurprised that the outcome of… Motsoeneng’s disciplinary hearing has been exposed to be the whitewash we always suspected it would be,” Selfe said.
“This follows the DA’s review application in which we sought to have Mr Motsoeneng suspended pending the outcome of a disciplinary inquiry that needed to be independent, fair, and comprehensive,” he said.
In addition to seeking access to the transcript the DA would almost certainly take this decision on review on the grounds that it made a mockery of the rule of law, the public protector’s report, and Cape Town High Court Judge Dennis Davis’s judgement.
“This comes after the chairperson of the disciplinary ‘discharged’ the charges leveled against Mr Motsoeneng. Mr Motsoeneng pleaded not guilty to all three charges leveled against him for gross dishonesty, orchestrating purges, and improperly dismissing employees at the national broadcaster.”
The chairman of the disciplinary was only appointed a week ago and did not properly allow himself to consider all the facts. In addition to this the hearing itself was truncated.
Key witnesses were not called or were unavailable to provide key evidence in relation to Motsoeneng’s gross misconduct, and the disciplinary inquiry ordered by the public protector titled “When Governance and Ethics Fail” was not satisfactorily engaged, which “is bizarre, considering that this is the disciplinary inquiry the public protector ordered”.
Further the, judgments by the Western Cape High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal were not duly engaged even though asserting that Motsoeneng was in fact not a fit and proper person and that his permanence at the SABC was irrational, on its face, and should be set aside, Selfe said.
“It is completely preposterous that the chairperson can, erring in due process, come to the determination that Mr Mosteneng is a suitable person to hold his position as COO.
“We submit that this farcical stitch-up job and its outcome are exactly what Mr Motsoeneng, the SABC, and the Minister of Communications Faith Muthambi concocted from the very beginning and have done everything in their power to frustrate this crucial process that has severe implications for the independence of our national broadcaster as prescribed by the constitutional precepts that this entity in enjoined by.
“The DA will not accept this decision that cannot be rational or tenable in law and we will take it on review,” Selfe said. – African News Agency (ANA)
