Were the rapidly crumbling national broadcaster a city, it would be forced to follow the bankrupt Rio de Janeiro in declaring a “state of public calamity”. This week, SABC acting CEO Jimi Matthews belatedly said he was quitting because recent decisions taken at the broadcaster were “wrong”.Matthews said he had “compromised the values I hold dear” thanks to a “corrosive atmosphere” at the SABC, which had impaired his moral judgment.This corrosive atmosphere has a name: Hlaudi Motsoeneng.Motsoeneng was first hired in 1995 as a news reporter. His path to the top has been pock-marked by tales of intimidation and harassment, so much so that he was axed from Lesedi FM in 2007 before being rehired, despite concerns from peers about his “reign of terror”.Everyone knew it. A few years back, one former SABC executive spoke approvingly of Motsoeneng’s thug-like manner: “He’s a fixer. He beats people up in the dark for a living, but he gets things done.”Only, what he has done is almost single-h...
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