Media Release24 February 2023Urgent Litigation: Appointment of the SABC BoardJOHANNESBURG, 24 February 2023 – The ongoing failure of the President to appoint theSABC Board has left Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) with no option but to approach theConstitutional Court to compel the President to fulfil his constitutional mandate and appointthe twelve non-executive members to the SABC.The perils of the SABC operating without a board have been highlighted here and here.Since the end of the term of the previous Board and shortlisting of the candidates for thenew Board, MMA has on numerous occasions corresponded with the President. The focus ofour correspondence was to request the President to appoint the Board – 132 days later, theBoard has yet to be appointed.The importance of the SABC Board cannot be overemphasised. The Board fulfils a key role inenabling the public broadcaster to provide news and information to the nation. It is tritethat the public broadcaster has an indispensable role in fostering democracy and the freeflow of information. Each day that goes by without a Board, the proper functioning of thepublic broadcaster is jeopardised, which in turn threatens the functioning of ourconstitutional democracy.Given this, we have thus been left with no choice but to bring an urgent application to theConstitutional Court for an order compelling the President to fulfil this obligation diligentlyand without further delay and appoint the twelve Board members selected by the NationalAssembly.According to section 13(1) of the Broadcasting Act of 1999, “The twelve non-executivemembers of the Board must be appointed by the President on the advice of the NationalAssembly.” The plain and purposive interpretation of this provision is that the President hasno discretion or veto over the appointment of the twelve members advised by the NationalAssembly.To date, it appears the President is assuming powers we argue he does not have.Specifically, that he does not have the ability to veto or delay making these appointments.Were the President to have such power, it would potentially, fatally, undermine theindependence of the SABC from the Executive. The design of the SABC is that it isindependent from the executive government. The Broadcasting Act and the Constitutionrequire the SABC to be meaningfully independent from the executive government,Where the President, or indeed any other interested body, has concerns over theappointment of one or more members of the SABC Board, there is nothing preventing themfrom taking such appointments on legal review.Some two months later, and with the SABC’s financial year end looming, not only is theSABC in a profoundly perilous position with a very real threat of insolvency, but if there is no Board there is no governance of the SABC and the ability of the SABC to fulfil its important constitutional role is jeopardised. This in turn means that tens of millions of people living in South Africa (who rely on it for news and information) face the possiblity of their fundamental right to access to information being denied. All this threatens our democratic society.The Constitutional Court application can be found here.For further information, please contact:William Bird, Director, MMAContact: 0828871370, williamb@mma.org.zaThandi Smith, Head of Programmes, MMAContact: 0734707306, thandis@mma.org.zaAzola Dayile, Advocacy Litigation Lobbying Programme Manager, MMAContact: 0658917220, azolad@mma.org.zaAbout MMAMedia Monitoring Africa‘s vision is a responsible, quality media that enables an engagedand informed citizenry in Africa and across the world. MMA aims to promote thedevelopment of a free, fair, ethical and critical media culture in South Africa and the rest ofthe continent. To achieve MMA’s vision, the three key areas that MMA seeks to addressthrough a human rights-based approach are: media ethics, media quality and mediafreedom.For more information about MMA and its work forchildren visit www.mediamonitoringafrica.orgFollow MMA on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube