The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) are demanding that Hlaudi Motsoneng, the former chief operations officer (COO) should pay back the R2.5 million which was paid to more than 100 local artists.
According to Motsoeneng, the money given to local artists was to show “gratitude” for the music they produce. He further said the funding was raised from private sources like MultiChoice to pay what he calls “music legends”. The SIU is not convinced by the submission made by Hlaudi and believes that the payments were irregular.
The special investigating unit (SIU) tribunal has been called in by the former SABC board members to come and explain themselves on the issues which relates to the R2.5 million which was given to local artists. Both the SIU and the SABC argued that there was no budget located to pay local artists and that the decision fell out of the scope of the public broadcaster.
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The SABC and SIU representative advocate Jabu Motsepe argued that the large amount paid to the artists was not budgeted for and if it was, then it was done unlawfully. He further said that Hlaudi and the executives who took this decision should be held liable for their actions.
Motsepe argued that the evidence provided shows that MultiChoice was not involved in this fundraising. “The evidence shows that is not true. We have a letter from MultiChoice, we have affidavits from people from Finance that there were no private funds. All the monies that were paid are from the SABC. None of the decision-makers evaluated all those things. They simply approved,” said Motsepe.
Source: The South African, Eyewitness News, Sowetan Live, The Citizen, image from The Citizen
