Early last month a representative of communications minister Faith Muthambi called James Aguma’s office. The SABC’s acting CE was being summoned to an urgent meeting with the minister in Pretoria. According to two well-placed sources, Aguma’s assistant found him in a boardroom with head of sport Sully Motsweni and other officials drafting the response to the parliamentary inquiry’s damning interim report on mismanagement at the SABC. They were ordered to drop everything and rush to Pretoria. The report was particularly scathing about Hlaudi Motsoeneng, who is rumoured to be close to President Jacob Zuma though he denies this. He was depicted as running the broadcaster like a dictator with Muthambi’s backing, purging anyone critical of his leadership and clinching dubious deals, including with the Gupta-owned The New Age Media group. An earlier draft of the SABC’s response had apparently been leaked to Motsoeneng, who felt he’d been hung out to dry, and wanted it fixed. Motsweni has ...
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