Discussion of IBA nominations

Meeting report

COMMUNICATIONS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
3 March 1999
DISCUSSION OF IBA NOMINATIONS

Documents handed out:
Committee Report to National Assembly: Broadcasting Bill: 2 March 1999 ( see Appendix)
List of IBA Nominations

SUMMARY
The committee compiled a short list of twelve (12) IBA nominees to be called back to the committee for interviews at a later date.

MINUTES
Chairperson SE Moeti of the ANC welcomed the honorable members and called the meeting to order. He began by asking for consent on the 2 March 1999 Committee Report on the Broadcasting Bill [94D-98]. After one minor change to the document, the committee concurred and accepted the report to the National Assembly.

The budget report was the second issue discussed by the committee. Chairperson Moeti asked what, if any, common concerns did the committee have regarding the budget. He explained that if there is no common view, the committee was not compelled to make a report. Ms D Smuts of the DP said that there is common consent regarding the salary of the independent institutions like the IBA. Those positions need adequate funds to accompany the job so that they can attract the needed skills and the responsible persons can carry out their duties. Chairperson Moeti asked the committee members to draft a consent and submit it to the committee for finalisation.

The next issue discussed by the committee was the appointment of IBA councillors to fill the three vacant seats. Chairperson Moeti explained that the term for the current chairperson of the IBA expires this month. The other two vacant seats that need to be filled are due to recent resignations. Chairperson Moeti read through the criteria that this committee should follow when selecting an IBA counselor. Such criteria included that the nominee must be a South African citizen, must not have a conflict of interest within the broadcasting industry, and have no criminal record.

Ms Smuts pointed out to the committee that she had not yet received the CVs of two of the nominees. Other committee members also noted that they too had not received a complete packet of CVs. Some members exchanged extra copies of CVs with other members before Chairperson Moeti asked the committee to continue the meeting by taking five minutes to review the CV packet and select a short list of names.

After a short period of individual review and private discussion between members, the committee agreed upon selecting more than nine names but no more than twelve names for the short list. Chairperson Moeti asked individual members for the names of their selections. After the following names were suggested, the committee voted on which nominees should be invited to be interviewed by the committee. Chairperson Moeti then asked committee members to check the CVs of the nominees on the following list against the required selection criteria to eliminate discussing nominees who are ineligible for consideration for the IBA positions. Mr P Bikitsha of the NNP asked the committee to keep in mind while reviewing CVs that many of these people were "coming out of a dark period" and valuable work experiences had not been available to all of the applicants.

Ms S Van der Merwe of the ANC pointed out that the committee was missing the CVs for [2C] Mr Tebele, [Z] Mr Sihlali, [2A] Mr Zokwe, [2L] Ms Smith, and [2D] Mr Molete. Chairperson Moeti called a fifteen minute break during which the committee secretary called the offices of the nominees with missing CVs and asked them to fax their CVs within the next fifteen minutes. After the break, only one additional CV was provided, that of Mr M Molete. Chairperson Moeti asked the committee how they should treat the nominees that had not sent acceptance letters to the committee. Ms Smuts replied that they should not be considered. Mr N Kekana of the ANC replied that as long as the committee was comfortable with its attempts to contact these people, the committee should proceed without further consideration of those nominees. Mr Bikitsha added that this committee had tried everything humanly possible to contact these people and it was therefore reasonable to disqualify these nominees.

The committee voted for each of the selected nominees in turn and Chairperson Moeti read aloud the twelve names with the most votes.

After the twelve nominees were selected for future interviews with this committee, Chairperson Moeti adjoined the meeting.

Appendix