CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY AND EVENTS

Towards the end of 2018, the financially-troubled South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) was rocked by the resignation of four Board Members. This brought the number of vacant seats to eight, following four other resignations during the course of the year. The most recent resignations have rendered the Board inquorate and unable to take major decisions affecting the public broadcaster, as well as unable to hold the executive members of the Board and the Executive Committee accountable for their conduct. 

The resignations dealt a final blow to a significantly tumultuous year at the Broadcaster, which closed the year with advertisements for replacements to fill the eight vacancies. Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications has indicated that it will be returning to work early in 2019 to allow for the interviewing of candidates and the filling of the positions because until such time that the posts are filled, the SABC is operating without any visible leadership.

Since the publication of the 2018 matric results, a lot has been written about those performing outstandingly well in their final exams and the national pass rate of 78.2%. All this was done for good reason and we congratulate everybody on their personal success. At the same time, we must not forget those 400 000 young South Africans who enrolled in Grade 1 in 2007 but never ‘arrived’ at Matric 2018. Thus, it is worth looking at the Marathon of basic education, instead of the finishing sprint.