CAPE TOWN – A Western Cape High Court judge has described the SABC board as non-functional and non-existent.
The High Court is hearing an application by SABC board chair Mbulaheni Maguvhe to interdict a parliamentary inquiry into the board’s fitness to hold office.
Maguvhe, the only remaining non-executive board member, wants the court to set aside a subpoena to appear before an ad-hoc committee.
Judge Siraj Desai says the SABC board has disintegrated and crumbled to a point where it’s no longer existent.
He’s told Maguvhe’s lawyer that as a public figure, the board chairperson should be open to criticism.
But Thabani Masuku for Maguvhe has argued that the ad-hoc committee would have been biased against his client because there appears to be a pre-judged outcome.
He says some committee members have already publicly expressed a view that the public broadcaster’s board is dysfunctional and that it should be dissolved.
Masuku wants Parliament ensure those on the committee are impartial.
