By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
SABC head of news Phathiswa Magopeni attempted to have her disciplinary hearing collapsed on Monday.
Magopeni was charged with three counts after Special Assignment aired an episode that was interdicted.
Her lawyer, Rui Roxo, told the hearing on Monday that Magopeni was charged by SABC Group CEO Madoda Mxakwe. This, he said, was wrong as she was supposed to have been charged by the SABC board.
However, according to SABC lawyer Michael Bill, Magopeni reports to Mxakwe, and he has the authority to charge her.
“You can’t bring an application and say you want something if you haven’t indicated there’s an obligation on the part of the board. There is no such duty on the board. They haven’t told you why they believe the board must resolve [this issue],” Bill said.
After a short adjournment, Magopeni withdrew her application to have the proceedings halted.
Meanwhile Special Assignment executive producer Busisiwe Ntuli testified on Monday during the disciplinary hearing.
Ntuli told advocate Nazir Cassim, who is chairing the hearing, that they found out an hour before the programme was due to air that it had been interdicted.
Magopeni has been charged with a failure to execute her duties, putting the SABC into disrepute and airing a show that was interdicted.
Ntuli testified that the programme was cancelled but was aired a few weeks later by mistake.
“We wanted to respect the law. We knew that we could not air the programme,” Ntuli said.
She said while they respected the court’s decision, she wanted to continue fighting it.
“We were being muzzled by corporate bullies and we should not allow them to do so. We needed to find a way in which the interdict should be challenged.”
On the night the interdicted episode was played, she checked their records and discovered that the programme codes for the interdicted show and the replacement were similar.
“I determined this is why the other programme was picked up.”
Ntuli said the change in the programme codes was done by a technician.
She said the programme was not removed from the system because they didn’t think a mistake would happen.
“None of us knew this mistake would happen. We did not anticipate that a mistake would happen.”
Asked whether there was an intention to air the programme, Ntuli said: “Never.”
Asked whether the airing of the show was the news department’s fault, she said: “Not as far as I have determined.”
Ntuli added that her unit provided the correct information to the video entertainment department.
“They needed to verify that the content we provided them with corresponds with the programme that was to air on that day. They have an obligation to ensure that whatever is shown to the South African public is checked and verified.”