Former SABC head Hlaudi Motsoeneng, chief enforcer of ANC propaganda, maintained his position of power for a sustained period at the public broadcaster thanks largely to political connections. But South Africa is still a democracy. We have been reminded that the courts are an option when fighting against wrongs. Motsoeneng reported for duty as an ordinary employee this week, following a legal battle initiated by the opposition Democratic Alliance to remove him from the helm. Motsoeneng, a Zuma ally, still has a job to go to – even though he lied about his qualifications, engineered a big salary increase and directed a senior staff purge. The communications ministry is considering its options, including quite possibly maintaining Motsoeneng’s influence by appointing him as acting chief operating officer. Given the ANC’s political agenda to maintain control of the broadcaster and tighten its grip on state enterprises, it seems likely that the communications ministry will attempt to keep Motsoeneng in a position of power or, at the very least, someone of his ilk. One thing you can rely on, however, is that those who believe in the importance of a politically independent broadcaster for the development of democracy are standing ready to fight back.- Jackie Cameron
By Thomas Hartleb, News24
Johannesburg – The communications ministry has not received any request from the SABC’s board for Hlaudi Motsoeneng to be appointed the broadcaster’s acting COO, it said on Thursday.
“We want to state categorically that we have not formally received such a letter from the SABC board for the minister’s consideration,” the ministry said in a statement.
It however said it was aware of a letter, purporting to be from the SABC’s group secretary and addressed to its board, asking it to recommend to Communications Minister Faith Muthambi that she appoint Motsoeneng to the post.
The ministry said it was confident the broadcaster would give due considerations to the Supreme Court of Appeal’s ruling.
“As the shareholder representative, our duty is to wait for the SABC to engage us formally on this matter, in line with the mandate of the broadcaster.”
According to the letter, dated Monday, the board was asked to make the recommendation at its next meeting on October 28. The appointment would be from September 19 to December 18.
Motsoeneng declined to comment and SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago dismissed the letter as a rumour.
On Tuesday, Motsoeneng reported for duty at the public broadcaster an “ordinary employee”, after the Supreme Court of Appeal rejected his bid for leave to appeal against a High Court ruling that set aside his permanent appointment as chief operating officer.
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found in a report released in February 2014, that Motsoeneng lied about his qualifications when he applied for the post of COO, that he hiked his salary from R1.5m to R2.4m in one year, and that he purged senior staff.
Despite these adverse findings, Muthambi confirmed his permanent appointment by the board.
In November 2015, Western Cape High Court Judge Dennis Davis found Motsoeneng’s appointment was irrational and unlawful and set it aside. The DA brought the application.
The DA then got a court order forcing the SABC to hold a disciplinary hearing against him, but he was cleared of the charges in December 2015.
On May 23 this year, Davis dismissed Motsoeneng’s application for leave to appeal against his ruling. Motsoeneng then approached the SCA.
News24
Source
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/ministry-denies-receiving-hlaudi-request-letter-20160922
Hlaudi Motsoeneng: Tracing his roots, performance, power
By Angelique Serrao and Jeanette Chabalala
Johannesburg – Hlaudi Motsoeneng is a survivor. South Africa’s broadcasting czar has survived insurmountable obstacles, among them a scathing Public Protector’s report exposing him as a lying rogue and court orders prohibiting him from running the public broadcaster.
Yet Motsoeneng always seems to emerge unscathed.
He is a man, his colleagues learnt, that should never be underestimated.
How did the ambitious young freelancer from Phuthaditjhaba without any struggle credentials rise to such heights at the SABC? How did he, according to some who witnessed it personally, come to have the ear of President Jacob Zuma?
Over the years there have been numerous rumours attempting to explain Motsoeneng’s meteoric career rise.
The most sensational of these is that his mother is a powerful sangoma, whose spiritual strength has even drawn President Jacob Zuma into her orbit.
We set out to find her.
The truth is far more complex. Motsoeneng is where he is through a mixture of luck, a metamorphosis in the politics of the country, patronage, and old-fashioned scheming.
The story of Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s advance started in the valleys and hills of the picturesque eastern Free State town of Phuthaditjhaba, where he grew up.
Before brick homes, mud rondavels with thatch roofs dominated the suburb of Thaba Bosiu.
We found the childhood home of Motsoeneng; a small, humble house with a snow-covered mountain as backdrop.
Journalists have been here before. The old lady who lives here is Motsoeneng’s aunt, who refuses to give her name.
She is the woman who brought him up, but she is not his mother.
Nobody wants to say who his mother is, or why she did not raise Motsoeneng herself.
"But Baba loves him, he loves him so much. We must support him." – Muthambi to the late Hope Zinde in 2015, about Motsoeneng. #FBF #Hlaudi
— Phumzile Van Damme (@zilevandamme) September 23, 2016
In 2014, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela revealed that Motsoeneng had never matriculated from Metsi Matsho High School, just a short drive from the house.
It was during this time that his family was besieged by journalists. The frail 90-year old woman invited us to sit down, told us a bit about the family, gave us a tongue-lashing, and sent us packing.
She said she was the older sister of Motsoeneng’s father. She took the boy in when his parents separated. She would not say why he had not gone to stay with his mother.
The old woman sat on a bench outside and told us about the “tsotsi journalists” who had been there before during the “public protector time”. They had been there for one reason – to dig up dirt on her nephew.
“People are trying to bring him down and he is such a hard worker. I am hurt, really hurt by it all,” the old lady said.
“Motsoeneng is educated, he works hard. Thuli Madonsela has tried hard to bring him down. I don’t like that woman one bit.”
She became so emotional at the thought of all this “evil” trying to bring her boy down, that her blue-rimmed irises brimmed with tears. She brought her work-hardened hands to her eyes and tried to rub her pain away.
She believed that if people tried hard enough to bring Motsoeneng down he would have an accident. All the negativity would eventually affect him.
The SCA dismissed Hlaudi Motsoeneng's leave to appeal Application – as any lawyer would have told you. Just stalling.
— Pierre de Vos (@pierredevos) September 19, 2016
Ahhh Hlaudi Motsoeneng
The pride of his aunt was evident in everyone we spoke to in Thaba Bosiu.
“Hlaudi Motsoeneng? Ahhh Hlaudi Motsoeneng,” strangers smiled when we asked about him. He was a local boy who had made something of himself. His fame meant that anyone from there, any young child, could be anything they wanted one day.
Mamapita Mokoena had that same proud smile on her face when we asked about Motsoeneng. She married into the family 25 years ago. She knew Motsoeneng and he was a good man as far as she was concerned. She had a TV and knew of the controversy that surrounded him; she was not ignorant of the public’s opinion on Motsoeneng.
“We support him. Yes, he makes mistakes. But everyone makes mistakes,” she shrugged.
She said the famous member of her family came home around Christmas time one year, and despite what people thought when looking at his aunt’s house, he was actually a very generous man. He bought them KFC buckets to eat and handed out R1 000 in cash to everyone in need. She estimated that he handed out at least R50 000. She had received cash handouts like this before.
And not only from Motsoeneng, Mokoena said. She got money from Free State Premier Ace Magashule. There had been a fire in her home and Magashule gave her R1 000 to buy some new clothes, she said.
The windows of Motsoeneng’s father’s house are closed, the curtains drawn and the gates locked.
Knocking and calling elicited no response.
“He likes to lock himself inside and not come out,” said his neighbour.
A neighbour across the way said Motsoeneng snr liked to visit his relatives at a nursery school down the road.
He was not there. Instead, we found three of Motsoeneng’s cousins.
EFF member Joseph Mabote and Lehlohnolo Motsoeneng remember Motsoeneng as a child who liked to play soccer and who loved drama at school.
“He liked being in the community and planning things.”
They said they did not see their cousin often. They had no stories of his generosity or largesse.
Strangely they said they did not know Motsoeneng’s mother’s name and could not describe where to find her.
“She is Ma Motsoeneng.”
Is she a sangoma?
No hesitation in their answer.
“Yes.”
Is she Zuma’s sangoma?
They did not know.
“Nobody speaks about seeing fancy cars,” they said.
A colleague who worked with Motsoeneng said they had heard the rumour about Motsoeneng’s mother many times, but did not believe it.
The colleague said Motsoeneng mentioned being brought up on the streets because his parents allegedly abandoned him and he did not get on with his grandmother who took him in.
“That’s why he didn’t finish matric and it was then that some politicians took him in,” the colleague said.
Enter Tsiame Kenneth (TK) Mopeli, the former chief minister of the apartheid bantustan of QwaQwa.
Mopeli saw something in the young Motsoeneng
We learn that it was Mopeli who saw something in the young Motsoeneng, took him under his wing, and mentored him.
Mopeli was a legend in political circles and governed for 19 years.
According to a eulogy written on Facebook by Moeketsi Paola Lebesa, Mopeli was the great-grandson of King Mokhachane, brother of King Moshoeshoe I – the founder of the Basotho nation.
Mopeli was an educated man and a firm believer in uplifting the youth. He worked as a teacher and radio announcer on Radio Bantu, now the SABC station Lesedi FM.
I believe Hlaudi Motsoeneng is throwing a party at SABC to thank himself. The Shenanigans at SABC are far from over<img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2/72x72/1f62f.png" alt="