Parliament's scathing opinion on SABC board 'neither here nor there': Presidency

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s participation in the process of appointing the SABC board was not merely an exercise in putting pen to paper, his office has argued.

Ramaphosa, according to his office, has obligations in the process that go beyond just assenting to the recommended list of the SABC’s 12 nonexecutive board members by parliament.

These obligations, his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said, included satisfying himself with the process that was followed by parliament, getting clarity on the "reserve pool", ensuring that the Broadcasting Act was followed to the letter, and also understanding how the objections that were raised regarding some of the recommended board members “were treated and managed”.

“The president does not conduct interviews. The president does not receive nominations. The president does not preside over the process. The president’s signature is the last step of the process,” said Magwenya.

He was giving an update on the president’s diary which includes addressing the South African Investment Conference on Thursday.

“It's not just a matter of placing a signature on a piece of paper," Magwenya said on the SABC board appointments.

"There is a duty to still be exercised before that act is conducted  and all the president did was to exercise that duty. Those letters are in public with respect to what concerns he had or clarifications he sought from parliament.”

Magwenya’s remarks come after a legal opinion sought by parliament last week was scathing about Ramaphosa saying the decisions taken by the parliament in December were “legally sound” and “legally executable”.

Ramaphosa had questioned the three “reserve pool” names that parliament had included in its recommended board members list it sent to him. The then minister of communications Khumbudzo Ntshavheni had also raised concerns about the inclusion of the former SABC head of news, Phathiswa Magopeni, on the recommended board.

In that legal opinion, the state attorney said all the president had to do was appoint the recommended 12 names as the Broadcasting Act directs him to and that he could not use the “reserve pool” to argue against making the appointments.

Magwenya however, said Ramaphosa held a different view and he could not just ignore his concerns and those raised by other stakeholders.

“So the scathing nature of that opinion is neither here nor there except to say the president still was duty bound to fully satisfy himself that all processes that were undertaken were conducted in accordance with our constitutional prescripts [and[ that the information that was before him was in line with the act. So there’s nothing wrong with that,” said Magwenya.

South African Investment Conference

He said the investment conference this week was expected to surpass the target of R1.2-trillion that Ramaphosa had set in 2018.

“Over the past four years the conference has realised about R1.14-trillion in investment commitments. The fifth edition of the conference is expected to exceed the investment target of R1.2-trillion that was set by the president at the inception of the five-year investment cycle,” he said.

“In his opening address the president will reflect on the goal he set in April 2018 and the progress achieved thus far. President Ramaphosa will also brief investors on the steps that are being taken by the government in addressing visas, transport and logistics, crime and corruption, and energy challenges.”

Brics summit

Magwenya said the warrant of arrest the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin has caused headaches for the country ahead of the Brics summit in August.

Putin is invited and expected to be in South Africa but the country will now have to discuss the modalities and implications of his presence, given the ICC warrant.

"It’s a Brics summit that involves heads of state, so naturally all heads of state will be expected to attend but now we have a spanner in the works in the form of this ICC warrant. So what that dictates is that there be further engagements in terms of how the summit is going to be managed. These  engagements are under way and once they’ve been concluded the necessary announcements will be made. I don’t want to pre-empt the outcome," he said.

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