HIS MASTER'S VOICE
HIS
MASTER'S VOICE
- Sunday
Times, 2005-05-29
|
He
was described as the "axeman" of the SABC, having being instrumental
in getting rid of Max du Preez (journalist), Sarah Crowe (former head of
TV current affairs), Jill Chisholm, Joe Thloloe (former editor-in-chief
of TV news), Ivan Fynn (former head of TV news), Allister Sparks (another
former editor-in-chief of TV news), Barney Mthomboti (former editor in
chief of radio news), Govan Reddy, Ami Nanackchand and Ida Jooste. All
victims at the SABC in Sithole's march to the top. Finally, at the end
of March 2000, news boss Enoch Sithole also had to quit.
Sithole,
who was the SABC's chief executive of news operations, claimed on his CV
(and the SABC's web site) that he has a BA degree from the Eduardo Mondlane
University in Maputo, Mozambique. The claim is repeated in the millennium
edition of Who's Who in South Africa. But his lawyer admitted that
he does not. The university itself said "We cannot find his name anywhere.
It would appear that he never attended our university."
What's
more, his claim to South African citizenship is being investigated by the
Department of Home Affairs. The former director-general of Home Affairs,
Albert Mokoena, quit in September 1999 after he was found guilty of misconduct
and corruption when it was discovered that documents went missing. Sithole's
file does not contain any birth certificate or any registration of birth.
There are no supporting documents from his parents to vouch for his birth
in South Africa. Yet, between 1988 and 1999 Sithole was issued five SA
passports.
Sam
Sithole, a teacher at the Sithokotile High School in Matsulu, near Nelspruit
which Enoch Sithole attended, said: "It was common knowledge that Enoch
was a Mozambican".
Juliet
Miyabo, a former fiancée who brought Sithole into the SABC and now
involved in a paternity suit with him over a six-month-old baby, denied
she had reported him to Home Affairs because he had jilted her.
The
SABC suspended Sithole and ordered him to return his access card, a cellphone
and other company equipment. The SABC's chief executive, the Rev Hawu Mbatha,
said: "If Sithole does not produce proof of his academic qualification,
then the SABC will withdraw its acceptance of his resignation".
The
Chairperson of the SABC Board of Control, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, nominated
herself for re-appointment to the board in 1996 when the term of office
of the previous one came to an end. She subsequently phoned the office
of the Minister for Broadcasting to make sure that they had in fact received
her nomination.
Dr Matsepe-Casaburri
was not appointed to the new SABC Board, having been "redeployed" by the
ANC when she was appointed premier of the Free State.
SLIPS OF THE TONGUE
When detailing the performance
of SA's Olympic rowers in Atlanta during 1996, Jane Hicks reported on those
who were eliminated as the "women's cockless pairs".
In a TV news report on
the visit of the Dutch queen Beatrix during October 1996, her husband was
identified as Prince Carl.
Trevor Quirk, SABC commentator,
at the Summer Games in Atlanta, draws viewers' attention to Mr and Mrs
Bill Clinton: "There's Jimmy Carter and Hilary".
Edwill van Aarde, during
a cricket commetary on TV: "We welcome all our blind viewers".
Mike Haylsman: "The
Indians have continued their good form as Honrad ... Honrad ... Conrand
Hunte said, they are in an unbeatable situation".
SABC TIMING
The SABC offered a halaal staff luncheon at noon during the middle of the month of Ramadan in 1996.
SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
Programmers at SABC-TV continually find new ways to scrape the bottom of the barrel with tired old programmes. On the schedule in January 1997 appeared: "12.30: What's New: Repeat".
THE LATE, LATE NEWS
The SABC was biting the
bullet and fighting its way of of the financial crisis which threatened
the very existence of the national broadcaster early. In pursuit of a glorious
vision for a brighter, happier, more prosperous and efficient future, a
council of war in the form of a bosberaad was scheduled in March 1997.
In attendance were some
30 departemental heads, other senior officials, trade union representatives
and members of the McKinsey financial management team which has produced
the battle-plan for the corporation's survival. Not in attendance was the
corporation's chief executive officer, Zwelakhe Sisulu. He telephone at
09:15 to announce he was lost. After being given detailed directions to
the venue, he finally arrived ... three hours late.
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE
As a result of a newscast
by the SABC, it was announced by Enoch Sithole, head of the SABC's communications
department, that staff from the former TBVC broadcasters - Transkei, Bophuthatswana,
Venda an Ciskei - are NOT going to be absorbed into the SABC.
"Our TV news got it
wrong. They always get it wrong. They are so emotional about it", Sithole
said.
AT LEAST THEY ARE NOT DEAF AS WELL
The Government Gazette published the application for a radio broadcasting service in the Kimberley area, made to the IBA, with the target audience being identified as: "School children, unemployed and employed civil servants who are mainly illiterate".
SABC
Chairperson Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri was to attend a conference in Sydney,
Australia. En route she got off her airplane at Perth, where it stopped
to disembark some passengers and to refuel. Not finding her luggage in
the arrivals hall, she phoned her secretary in Johannesburg, accusing her
of making bad arrangements. Only when the secretary told her that the luggage
would be found in Sydney, where Casaburri herself was supposed to be, did
she realise that she was still thousands of kilometres from her destination.
A Nigerian woman was - according to e-tv news - "sentenced to death by adultery".