JOHANNESBURG, President Jacob Zuma has appointed the members of the interim board of directors of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) whose nominations were approved by the National Assembly nearly two weeks ago.

In an announcement here over the weekend, the president appointed Khanyisile Kweyama to serve as the Chairperson and veteran journalist Mathatha Tsedu to serve as her deputy as recommended by Parliament. The National Assembly (lower House of Parliament) had unanimously approved the five candidates — Khanyisile Kweyama, John Matisson, who is a former SABC board member, Krish Naidoo, Mathatha Tsedu and Febbe Portgieter-Gqubule — to serve on the interim board.

During the National Assembly sitting, the chairperson of Parliament’s Communications Committee, Humphrey Maxegwana, explained said: The Committee began with the deliberations on the interim board of SABC on the 24th January 2017 and agreed on the criteria to select the interim board members and among other things, candidates should possess in-depth knowledge of the Broadcasting Act, legal expertise and experience in dealing with human resources. Since the process of appointing an interim board does not require advertising and interviews, different parties had to come up with names to be deliberated and finalised by the committee.

President Zuma met the deadline for the appointments as the Broadcasting Act stipulates that the appointments must be done ten days after the House approves the names.

A statement from the Presidency said the president wished the interim board well, saying this is the start of a significant task of revitalizing one of the most important national resources. The interim board will serve a term of six months.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK