(Subcommittee) SABC Board: Shortlisting candidates for interviews

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed the Committee. The purpose of the meeting was to shortlist candidates to interview for vacancies on the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Board.

The Chairperson reminded the Members of the policy for virtual meetings – all microphones were to be muted when not speaking and the chat function was to be used for points of order. He then asked if there were any apologies from Members.

The Committee Secretary said the only apology was from Mr V Pambo (EFF) who was travelling overseas. He had asked a fellow Member from the EFF to attend the meeting on his behalf.

The Chairperson asked if the Member was in the meeting.

Ms Portia Ntabeni, Committee Secretary, said the member was not on the platform yet.

The Chairperson said the apology would be noted as all the other political parties were represented on the platform, as the size of the Committee was constituted in proportion to the representation of political parties in Parliament.

He said the Content Advisors had said they would brief the Committee in the meeting, and the briefing would include whether the list of the nominees was sent to the Members as agreed.

Ms D Kohler Barnard (DA) said she had spoken to the Committee Secretary about having received a call from a Mr John Mattison, who was apparently a former Board member and wanted to know if he was on the nomination list. She asked the Committee Secretary to clarify whether the person qualified to be on the nomination list as she was unsure if former Board members were included in the nominations.

The Chairperson said the briefing would also answer Ms Kohler Barnard's question.

Briefing by Committee Content Advisors

Dr Jacob Medupe, Content Advisor, said they would make a brief presentation to outline the process of the interviews and give an idea of the total number of applicants and the number of those who managed to apply within the stipulated time and those who applied after the cut-off date.

He said with the current Board's term due to expire by 15 October 2022, the Portfolio Committee on Communications (PCC) was tasked with ensuring that a new SABC Board was nominated and appointed before the end of the term of the current Board. The PCC was targeting the National Assembly sitting of 29 September 2022 to consider its report on the appointment of Non-Executive Board Members of the SABC. The PCC had advertised for the Board nominations and the advert was closed on 06 August 2022.

Having received 120 nominations, the PCC would consider and shortlist 36 candidates for the 12 Board positions during the Subcommittee scheduled for 08 September 2022. The 36 shortlisted candidates would translate into three candidates per SABC Board Non-Executive position, and interviews would be conducted over four days at a rate of 45 minutes per candidate.

HR would not consider candidates who did not respond to the advert.
No policy talked about the number of candidates to be shortlisted for a position.
The qualifications check would take about five days for local qualifications and about three weeks for international qualifications.
The qualifications would also be verified with MEI, and consent forms would be sent to candidates immediately after the Committee completed the shortlisting.
Job profiles would be used as criteria for shortlisting, and in the case of the SABC Board, the Broadcasting Act would be used.

The Chairperson asked the Committee Secretary to answer questions regarding the list.

The Committee Secretary said the closing date for the call for nominations was 06 August 2022 and the Committee received 120 nominations. The Committee also received about ten nominations that did not meet the deadline and those nominations were not included in the list of nominations.

Deliberation

Ms Kohler Barnard was interested in the State Security Agency (SSA) consultation process. She wanted to know if the members of the Board needed a specific level of security clearance or if it was going to be a general background check for criminal records, debt or anything that could impact their position. She noticed that in the link she was forwarded on Tuesday night, several nominations appeared twice so the applications were not 120 in total.

Dr M Basopu (ANC) confirmed that there were candidates who appeared more than once on the nomination list and asked for a copy of the presentation.

Ms A Mthembu (ANC) welcomed the presentation.

Dr Medupe said the security checks would be the basic security clearance and background checks for criminal records.

Mr Mbombo Maleka, Content Advisor, agreed that it would be a regular background check for criminal records and a generic SSA check.

The Committee Secretary said she captured the nominations separately because different people nominated them so they were captured as separate nominations, which would explain the duplicated nominations.

The Chairperson said all the Members could agree that an advert was out and it had a closing date and anyone who submitted after the closing date would not be considered. If Mr Mattison had submitted his application after the closing date, then his application would not be considered. If there was confirmation that the application was submitted within the application time, there was a way that it could be handled within the principles of how the shortlisting was approached.

Ms Kohler Barnard said she was unsure that Mr Mattison had contacted the office before the due date, but she could look into it. She did not know who she could write to if it turned out that he had applied in time and was unsure what process she would have to follow and whether this would warrant an appeal.

The Chairperson said they would look into the principles applied in the shortlisting approach.

Mr L Molala (ANC) was unsure about the response to Dr Basopu's question on the duplication of nominations and asked for clarity. He suggested that all the outstanding questions must be dealt with, including Ms Kohler Barnard's question, to avoid the Committee having to go back to deal with the issues when it was time to move the process forward.

The Chairperson said if current Board members showed an interest in reapplying to be on the Board, it would be difficult to exclude them as a matter of principle because they would have applied based on their qualification. In the case that the Board member applied through a nomination within the cut-off date, he would also be included in the shortlist, but if it was after the cut-off date, the application or nomination would not be considered. He asked the Committee Secretary to check whether the name appeared in the ten applicants who applied after the cut-off date.

He also explained that the Committee Secretary tried to put together a list that showed the transparency of the process by capturing the nominations as they were received so that there would not be a point where the nomination of a particular group would not have been considered.

Dr Basopu said Ms Kohler Barnard's question included who would have to follow up or appeal on behalf of the Board member if it turned out that his application or nomination was submitted within the cut-off date but was omitted.

The Committee Secretary said she captured every nomination received as a new nomination, which is why there were duplications in the nomination.

The Chairperson said as subcommittee members, they had to adjudicate the CVs of the applicants. If there was to be an appeal process, it would not be the responsibility of the Committee to raise it, but it would be the responsibility of either the nominee themselves or the party that nominated them because the appeal would be based on the circumstances surrounding the nomination on where and how it was done.

Ms Z Majozi (IFP) asked the Content Advisors and Committee Secretary to share the list of the ten nominees that submitted their applications after the cut-off date because she was unsure if they were included in the shortlist.

The Chairperson said the ten people were the people who applied after the cut-off date so they did not need to be included in the shortlist.

Dr Medupe agreed with the Chairperson.

The Committee Secretary said a majority of the ten applicants submitted their applications or nominations on the cut-off date of the nominations but after the 16:00 cut-off deadline time, as some of them were received after 20:00 or 22:00 and some after 18:00.

The Chairperson asked the Members to confirm if they agreed with the following points as key principles:

The principles of inclusivity (gender parity, race, youth) would be prioritised.

The current serving Board members who had applied or were nominated before the deadline would automatically qualify for the shortlist because they had already served on the Board. However, that did not necessarily mean they would be favourites before the interviews, as they would also have to undergo the process on a clean slate.

The skills, experience, and expertise needed on the Board would be prioritised.

The Committee would take a similar approach to one which was taken previously where Members would consider the nomination lists with their respective political parties, and the Committee would look at the points where they agreed on and look at balancing the skills, experience, and demographics so that the list could be inclusive of people and their differences.

Political parties would list their proposed candidates for shortlisting, look for the names they had in common, and reach the final list by consensus instead of a mere vote. Parties would have time to engage and persuade each other on the proposed names to construct the final list of recommended names for interviews.

Ms Kohler Barnard said all the interviews on the shortlist must be done on a clean slate and did not believe current board members should be given preferential treatment because of their previous qualifications to the Board.

Members agreed to the principles and agreed to proceed.

The Chairperson said there was nothing about favouritism in the principles he mentioned as the Committee was dealing with the shortlisting and not their placement onto the Board.

Ms Kohler Barnard misunderstood whether the Chairperson said the current Board members must be allowed to automatically qualify for placement onto the Board or the shortlist.

The Chairperson clarified that the current serving Board members who had applied or were nominated before the deadline would automatically qualify for the shortlist because they had already served on the Board. However, that did not necessarily mean they would be favourites before the interviews, as they would also have to undergo the process on a clean slate.

Ms Kohler Barnard thanked the Chairperson, was satisfied with the process, and agreed to continue.

The Chairperson said the Members would need to present the names they wished to according to their respective political parties, starting with the ANC, followed by the DA, EFF, and IFP. The Committee Secretary would make a spreadsheet of the names as they were presented by each political party represented.

Ms Kohler Barnard asked if the Members would just list the names without justification.

The Chairperson said the parties would have looked at different aspects beforehand for them to motivate for their list and they would be allowed to mention those different aspects in their presentations.

Ms Kohler Barnard wanted to place on record that she had received the list on Tuesday night and had little time to discuss it with her caucus and felt she was at a slight disadvantage. However, she had discussed it with various experts in the field and created a list, but asked for an opportunity to take her final list to her caucus for signoff.

The Chairperson said all Members received the list at the same time and understood that they all had little time to go through the list.

African National Congress (ANC)

Ms Mthembu proposed candidate numbers: 1,5,6,95,57,98,11,7,37,23,12,13,16,22,23,25,48,58,61,78,82,83,85,76,77,88,89,90,92,16,97,99,101,107,103/4,108,109, 110,113,114,115,116,119,38,38

Democratic Alliance (DA)

Ms Kohler Barnard proposed candidate numbers: 37,95,47,118,7,22,2,12,4/103,97,92,105,80,93,59,38,15,45,35,14

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)

Ms L Tito (EFF) said the EFF caucus had not sat and considered the list and Mr Pambo would send their list to the Committee Secretary via email.

Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)

Ms Majozi proposed candidate numbers: 103/4,5,6,13,96,37,76,28,25,52,56,65,66,57,58,60,67,83,87,92,93,47,48,50,51,46,1

The Chairperson asked how much time the Committee support would need to create the spreadsheet with the list of names from each party, having noted the EFF's submission.

Dr Medupe said they would need about 10 minutes to finalise the spreadsheet because they had only noted the candidate numbers presented by the Members and would need to add the names.

Ms Kohler Barnard proposed that the Committee support be given enough time and so the Members could attend their caucus meetings. The spreadsheet would be discussed in the following meeting at 13:00pm.

The Chairperson said he would consider Ms Kohler Barnard's proposal after the 10 minutes that the Committee support requested. He was worried that Members also had to attend an NA House sitting in the afternoon.

Ms Mthembu seconded the suggestion made by Ms Kohler Barnard.

Dr Medupe also agreed and asked that the Chairperson give them more time so they could also wait for the proposed candidate numbers from the EFF.

The Chairperson agreed and asked that the Committee reconvene at 13:00 and to keep their proposed candidate names the same. He asked Ms Tito to ensure that Mr Pambo send the EFF's proposed candidate list otherwise the Committee would take it the EFF was covered by other political parties if they did not submit by 13:00pm.

The meeting was adjourned for reconvention at 13:00pm.

After reconvening, the Committee recommended that the following candidates be shortlisted to be interviewed for the SABC Board: Ms Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi; Mr David Maimela, Mr Jack Phalane; Dr Renee Horne, Prof Sathasivan Cooper; Mr Dinkwanyane Mohuba, Ms Nomvuyiso Batyi, Ms Sandika Daya, Ms Cynthia Stimpel, Adv Tseliso Thipanyane; Mr Quentin Green; Mr Mpho Tsedu; Mr Shadrack Bokaba; Prof Franz Kruger, Mr Zolile Zamisa; Mr Langa Zita; Ms Nomazulu Mda; Ms Rearabetsoe Motaung; Mr Khathutshelo Ramukumba; Mr Thembisa Fakude; Ms Ntshwareng Bapela; Ms Phathiswa Magopeni; Ms Nwabisa Matyumza; Mr Lance Rothschild; Mr Kingdom Moshuenyane; Mr Paris Mashile; Dr Oscar Van Heerden; Ms Aifheli Makhwanya; Mr Lumko Mtimde; Ms Palesa Kadi; Mr Zolani Matthews; Ms Thandeka Gqubule-Mbeki Ms Fundiswa Skweyiya-Gushu; Ms Magdalene Moonsamy; Ms Yvonne Yolelwa Sikhunyana; Ms Lindiwe Jacqueline Maepa; and Ms Mandisa Titi.