By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has finally appointed a new board for the South African Broadcasting Cooporation (SABC),
The appointment comes after months of delays and court challenges over Ramaphosa’s failure to prioritise appointing the board for the public broadcaster.
Civil society organisation Media Monitoring Africa filed papers at the Constitutional Court while SOS coalition, an organisation which supports public broadcasting, had also raised concerns over the delays.
The public broadcaster has been without a board since mid-October.
In December, he was given a list of people to be appointed to the board, as required by law.
Earlier in March, Parliament’s legal advisor, Andile Tetyana, said the president had acted unlawfully by questioning the status of three additional names given to him to consider should anyone on the list of 12 names be unavailable.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Ramaphosa announced former National Youth Development Agency CEO Khathutshelo Ramukumba as the board chairperson and Nomvuyiso Batyi as the deputy chairperson.
Ramukumba is a chartered accountant by profession and is currently the chief financial officer at Unisa.
He previously worked for the SA Post Office and the National Youth Development Agency, while Batyi is an Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) councillor.
Other members of the board include former SABC head of news Phathiswa Magopeni, former SABC journalist and anchor Mpho Tsedu, former SABC Journalist Dr. Renee Horne, Adv Tseliso Thipanyane, Aifheli Makhwanya, Magdalene Moonsamy, Rearabetsoe Motaung, David Maimela, Dinkwanyane Mohuba and Palesa Kadi.
Ramaphosa said, he trusts that the newly appointed board members will work hard at “ensuring that South Africa continues to benefit from a stable, independent and effective national public broadcaster”.
“The SABC is a vital institution of our constitutional democracy. I trust the newly appointed board members will work hard at ensuring that South Africa continues to benefit from a stable, independent and effective national public broadcaster,” Ramaphosa added.