On Wednesday 5 October, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications (the Committee) convened a meeting with the beleaguered Board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to allow the latter to brief the former on the state of affairs at the public broadcaster. This was done in light of the recent Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment concerning its newly appointed Group Executive for Corporate Affairs, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, and the problems that have recently plagued the SABC. It is worth noting that this meeting was conducted during a period of Parliamentary recess, which indicated the gravity of the matter.

The embattled Chief Operations Officer (COO) of the South African Broadcasting Cooperation (SABC) may have reached the end of his tenure at the public broadcaster. After a series of court battles with opposition parties, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has dismissed SABC COO, Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s application for leave to appeal a High Court ruling that his permanent appointment should be set aside.

In 2014, in the report When Governance and Ethics Fail, the Public Protector found that Motsoeneng had lied about his matric certificate and as a direct result, obtained a position at the broadcaster. Furthermore, despite the release of the report, he was appointed permanently into his current position. In fact, the SABC and the Department of Communications went over and above to retain Motsoeneng and, in 2015, it was revealed that he had awarded himself a salary increase of almost R1 million (R2.8 to R3.7 million). The SABC and Motsoeneng contested the findings of the Public Protector in both the High Court and the SCA, asserting that the findings of the Public Protector were not necessarily binding.

An ad hoc committee was established by Parliament to oversee the appointment of the successor to the Public Protector, Advocate Thuli Madonsela. It was chaired by the African National Congress (ANC) MP, Dr Makhosi Khoza. In her opening speech she promised “the best person for the job”. Serving in the committee, were Julius Malema on behalf of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), together with the following: Glynnis Breytenbach, Phumzile van Damme, James Selfe and Werner Horne, on behalf of the Democratic Alliance (DA). Other members included on behalf of the ANC, besides the chairperson, Makhosi Khoza, Bongani Bongo, Amos Masondo, Nicolaas Koornhof, Grace Tseke, Madipoane Mothapo, and Patrick Maesela.

In the months leading up to this year’s Local Government Elections, the possibility of free and fair elections was marred by various incidents across the country. From protests in Vuwani regarding municipal demarcation, to the multiple political killings in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as the plethora of objections and complaints on election day, it was indeed unlikely that a calm political atmosphere would prevail following the release of the final results. However, after the conclusion of the voting process and the announcement of the final results, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) declared the elections free and fair. These sentiments have been echoed by the Law Society of South Africa.

Pockets in the City of Tshwane are beset by violence, with media reports showing burnt-out shells of motor vehicles, and streets littered with burning tyres. One person is said to have been killed in the violence. The violent protests are ostensibly as a result of party members’ unhappiness with the governing party’s National Executive Council’s decision to select a mayoral candidate ahead of the candidates preferred by the Tshwane branch of the governing party.

In addition, last week the Police Minister, Nathi Nhleko, announced that he had established a task team whose mandate is to investigate the “rise in the number of political killings”. He further expressed concern over the number of killings linked to the upcoming elections on 3 August 2016. The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has reported that over the past five years there have been about 50 politically-related killings, predominantly in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in similar vein notes that political killings are as a result of local conflicts and rivalries.

The Centre for Constitutional Rights (CFCR) welcomes the judgment handed down by the Pretoria High Court (the High Court) in Democratic Alliance v Acting NDPP and Others. A full bench of the High Court has reached a judgment that a decision taken in 2009‚ by the then Acting National Director of Public Prosecutions, Mokotedi Mpshe, to drop 783 charges against the President, Mr Zuma, was irrational and should be reviewed and set aside. The charges relate to the Arms Deal, in which his financial adviser, Mr Schabir Shaik, was found guilty of corruption and was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment.