Nominations For the New Permanent SABC Board

The “Save our SABC” Campaign believes it is critical that the general public feels ownership of the SABC. It is our SABC. One of the most important ways for us to feel this ownership and for the general public to get actively involved is to put forward names for the Board.

The invitation for nominations was released recently and a deadline was set for the end of this month - 31 July 2009. Further, a number of notices were placed in the supplementary sections of the Mail&Guardian, Star, Sunday Times and Rapport newspapers.

The Coalition was concerned for two reasons. Firstly, we thought that the nomination period was extremely tight and secondly we felt that the Portfolio Committee needed to play a more proactive role in spreading the word about the nomination process. We are very heartened to see that the Portfolio Committee has agreed to extend the deadline to 14 August 2009.

We still feel a few further provisions need to be put in place:

• That Parliament set aside a budget to ensure that notices are carried in the main body sections of all key national and provincial newspapers – and particularly in newspapers read by ordinary South Africans such as the Daily Sun.
• That public service announcements are carried on all free-to-air channels including all SABC channels and e.TV.
• That public service announcements are carried on all community radio stations and also in community publications.
• That Government Communication Information System (GCIS) and statutory bodies such as the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) are creatively utilised to ensure that nomination notices are further disseminated.

As civil society organisations we also promise, from our side, that we will use our own networks to ensure maximum dissemination of this important information.

Also, further to this public nomination process, we believe there needs to be maximum transparency to ensure maximum public confidence in the nomination and selection process. We have the following suggestions:

• That the names of nominators and nominees are made public through the Parliamentary website and other accessible websites.
• That all CVs of short-listed nominees are housed on the Parliamentary website and other accessible websites for public scrutiny.
• That all interviews are televised and put on free-to-air radio and television channels at times when the majority of people are watching.
• Finally, that MPs give reasons for their choices as regards their final shortlist.

We the undersigned support these objectives.

SOS Campaign Coordinator,
Kate Skinner
kate.skinner@mweb.co.za