Cape Town – Communications Minister Yunus Carrim says he is awaiting legal advice from the chief law state advisor before he can make public pronouncements or act on the Public Protector’s report on the SABC.
Speaking on the sidelines of his appearance before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications on Tuesday, Carrim said he did this to avoid having his ministry dragged to the courts for pronouncing on findings without ensuring that all the legal checks have been ticked.
“After we get advice from the chief law state advisor, we will engage with the [SABC] board on how it is going to process the matter.
“As far as the specific request to us, we are asking the chief law state advisor this afternoon on how to proceed with the official concerned.”
Carrim said this following Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report, which found that the appointment of the public broadcaster’s acting chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng, along with his salary progression, were “irregular”.
During the briefing to the committee, Carrim said he had only received the report about 30 minutes before his appearance before the committee – at 9:35am on Tuesday.
Talking to journalists, he said he would allow his law advisor to counsel on the process going forward.
“We have to act within the law because what we have found very often is that when we act on reports, whether it is Thuli Madonsela or any other forensic investigation for that matter, the people who we decide to take action against challenge us in the courts of law. Given our very progressive labour dispensation, they are often able to the very least stall the process, if not prevent the outcomes that are in our view appropriate.
“We [also] have to wait on the SABC board to decide on what its view is on the matter and until I hear from the chief state law advisor on what the role of the Minister is and his view on how valid the allegations are and what action must be taken, it would be inappropriate for me to comment,” he said.
After Madonsela released the report on Monday, the SABC board said, through a spokesperson, that it could not comment as it was still studying the report. – SAnews.gov.za
