SABC Board Interviews

COMMUNICATIONS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
29 August 2007
SABC BOARD INTERVIEWS

Acting Chairperson: Mr G Oliphant (ANC)

No documents were handed out

Audio recording of meeting [Part1] ; [Part2]

SUMMARY
The Portfolio Committee continued to hold interviews for five candidates for appointment to the South African Broadcasting Commission (SABC) Board. The candidates were: Prof Adam Habib, Mr Bongani Dlamini, Mr Lumke Mtimde, Adv Mandla Seleoane and Dr William Rowland. Questions asked by the Committee appear in this Minute but full responses from the candidates may be heard on the attached audio recording. The Committee raised questions around potential conflict of interest for nominees who were on boards already or whose careers might be connected to the SABC. They also asked their opinions on the current state of the SABC and its board. The problem with violent content and other programming concerns were also raised. Many members also showed concern about the fact the 80% of the SABC budget was generated from advertising and asked whether the candidates believed that this was perhaps contributing to SABC not fulfilling its mandate.

MINUTES
Interview: Prof Adam Habib
The Acting Chairperson asked the professor to briefly go through his CV.

The Acting Chairperson asked what his impression of the SABC as a public broadcaster was.

Ms D Smuts (DA) pointed out that ideally a public broadcaster should reflect the “plurality of views” that the professor referred to. She then referred to a radio interview that the professor had given, where he spoke about the issue of presidential succession. She asked, if he were to be appointed to the SABC board, what philosophical guidelines he would give in dealing with the succession issue, and what atmosphere would he create to enable this to occur.

Mr R Pieterse (ANC) asked if Prof Habib felt that as a public broadcaster the SABC should reflect society as it was now, or what it should aspire to be.

Ms S Vos (IFP) pointed out that the professor had an interest in issues affecting the poor and marginalised. She then mentioned the issue of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) deal, stressing that the sport was a sport of national interest and important to South Africans. She asked what his viewpoint was on the issue of the PSL deal and how it would affect the poor and marginalised.

She then pointed out that he had written about the need to foster national identity. She asked how that could be done in the case of sport as well as other aspects.

Adv P Swart (DA) said that a Task Team in 2001 had found that SABC could not afford to pay for the broadcast rights of cricket and rugby matches, but was able to pay a large amount for the rights to broadcast Formula One racing. He asked for the professor's thoughts on that issue.

Ms L Yengeni (ANC) asked what his approach would be to encourage the “plurality of ideas” without interfering with management.

She also asked how he could change the mindset of personnel in the newsroom to be aligned with what was expected of a public broadcaster.

Mr K Khumalo (ANC) asked for comment on the Communist Party’s idea that Socialism was the future.

He then asked if Prof Habib  understood the SABC’s mandate.

He asked if Prof Habib had any views on the SABC’s current funding model.

He mentioned that one of the other candidates had said that it was a good idea to have someone with knowledge of public policy and /or a political scientist on the Board. He asked for Prof Habib's opinion on that.

The Chairperson asked how many boards he served on currently.

Interview: Mr Bongani Dlamini
The Acting Chairperson asked Mr Dlamini to briefly go through his CV, and to indicate why he wished to be on the Board.

He asked Mr Dlamini what his current relationship with the SABC was.

Mr Pieterse pointed out that currently the advertising industry controlled 80% of the SABC budget and as a result dictated the direction of the public broadcaster. He asked for comment upon how Mr Dlamini would be influencing the Board, and whether the Board could move away from this position. He wondered if a conflict of interest would arise as a result of his background in advertising.

Mr M Mohlalonga (ANC) said that certain media forms with a high audience did not get large advertising spending.

He asked how Mr Dlamini would balance the interests of the marketers and advertisers if he were to be appointed as a member of the board, as well as being a part of the advertising industry.

He asked Mr Dlamini what his thoughts were on the impact of advertising on the youth as he felt that current coverage did not display and cherish achievement.

Mr Swart noted that there was a possible conflict if Mr Dlamini aimed to represent marketers and advertisers, which might give rise to conflicting priorities. He asked what he thought his influence could actually be if he were elected to the Board.

Ms C Nkuna (ANC) asked how he would influence the direction of thinking, at board and editorial level, without impacting on freedom of speech.

Ms Yengeni mentioned that 80% of the SABC funding came from advertising. She said that this may be the cause of the SABC not fulfilling its mandate as a public broadcaster. She asked what he would do to ensure that the situation was turned around.

She asked what the outcome was of the meeting when the SABC was told not to increase its advertising rate by 40%.

Interview: Adv Mandla Seleoane
Mr S Nxumalo (ANC) said that the government had been talking about moving to digital transmission, but the poorest people would then be unable to watch television. With regards to the marginalised and poor, he asked how Mr Seleoane would balance the future ICT generation against the needs of the poor who have not even reached first base.

Mr Khumalo pointed out the perception held by some people that the SABC was influenced by the ANC, and that their news coverage was more likely to report on their successes than on corruption, failures or other negative aspects. He asked if Mr Seleoane believed that there was any political interference. He also asked if he thought it was possible for a Minister to influence the editing of news, and how Mr Seleoane how he would deal with this issue.

Mr Khumalo then added that there was very little coverage of the Azania and Black Consciousness movement. He said that the SABC mandate was to educate, inform and entertain. He then asked how much of the SABC budget Mr Seleoane thought should be spent on education.

Mr Khumalo pointed out that the broadcast funding model was 80% advertising, 17% from licensing and 3% from government. He asked what funding model he would like to see without government increasing its input.

Mr Pieterse asked Mr Seleoane, from his experience as a labour relations consultant, what he would do to ensure that all labour issues received coverage, not simply the negative aspects such as the strikes.

The Acting Chairperson asked if, in his work as a labour relations consultant, Mr Seleoane  had done any work with the SABC.

The Acting Chairperson asked how many boards Mr Seleoane served on.

He tasked how Mr Seleoane came up with the name of his column, Holy Cows, in the Evening Post.

Interview: Mr Lumke Mtimde
The Acting  Chairperson asked Mr Mtimde to briefly go through his CV.

The Acting Chairperson indicated that Mr Mtimde was a former regulator at Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). Two other candidates for the Board were also formerly members of ICASA. He asked who, in his opinion, would be the best candidate.

Mr Pieterse noted that the committee had also interviewed another person from the Media Development and Diversity Agency  (MDDA) , of which Mr Mtimde was a member. Mr Pieterse asked if it was a good idea to have two people from the same organisation.

Mr Swart asked him to clarify his organisational experience.

Mr Swart mentioned that Mr Mtimde was a member of ICASA till 2006, and there were many problems in that organisation. He said that there were also many problems in the SABC. He asked him, with his expertise and ICASA experience, to give a short analysis of his opinion on the problems within the SABC and its board. He then asked, with his expertise and background, how he would deal with these problems.

Mr Mohlalonga mentioned that as CEO of MDDA Mr Mtimde was concerned with diversity and asked him to comment on diversity issues at SABC.

The Acting Chairperson asked what Mr Mtimde did with his science background skills.

Mr Khumalo said that broadcasting at the SABC contributed to the media development. However the SABC felt that they were funding future competition. He asked where Mr Mtimde’s heart would lie in this case.

Interview: Dr William Rowland
The Chairperson asked Dr Rowland to go through his CV briefly.

Mr Khumalo pointed out that the SABC mandate was to educate, entertain and inform. He was particularly concerned about the amount of violent content being screened on television. He asked for Dr Rowland's opinion on this issue.

Mr Khumalo mentioned the funding model, stating that 80% of the budget was from advertising. He asked how that could be changed without an increase of government funding.

Mr Pieterse pointed out that there was not a lot of exposure of disabled sports people. He asked for Dr Rowland's thoughts on this issue.

Ms Smuts asked if he had a sense of what the state of the SABC board was. He had mentioned that he regarded his service on another Board as a high water mark of his career. She asked what made this board good, and what improvements he felt could be made to the SABC board.

The Acing Chairperson asked for Dr Rowland's thoughts about non-intrusive captioning.

The Acting Chairperson asked whether Dr Rowland, when sitting on other Boards, had received sufficient support for his blindness, in terms of documentation and other matters.

The meeting was adjourned.