ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga has backed the appointment of the new members of the Media Development and Diversity Agency's board.
|||ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga has backed the appointment of the new members of the Media Development and Diversity Agency's (MDDA) board.
“All the new board members possess the necessary skills, expertise, and qualifications required to accelerate the agency's implementation of its mandate,” Motshekga said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The presidency must therefore ignore and reject with the contempt it deserves ill-informed and nonsensical clatter from the DA regarding the suitability of one of the candidates.”
The Democratic Alliance said it was initiating a probe into the fitness of government spokesman Jimmy Manyi to be a member of the MDDA board.
The DA claimed Manyi’s appointment was invalid and unlawful because, among other things, section two of the act stated the MDDA was “independent”, and had to exercise its powers without political interference.
According to section five of the act a person is disqualified from board membership if he or she has “as a result of improper conduct, been removed from an office of trust”, DA spokeswoman Natasha Michaels said.
“The presidency did not explain why Mr Manyi’s suspension from the department of labour did not disqualify him as a candidate for the board.”
Motshekga said this was “utter nonsense” as Manyi was never found guilty of any misconduct.
“There is a world of difference between a guilty judgement and suspension,” Motshekga said.
The presidency defended Manyi's appointment on Tuesday. The law allowed for the president to make three of the nine appointments to the MDDA board without Parliament's approval, spokesman Mac Maharaj said.
Motshekga said the claim that only candidates recommended by Parliament could be appointed to the board was “devoid of any truth”. The law stipulated that the president directly appoint three of the nine members of the MDDA board.
“To imply that the president - Jacob Zuma - acted contrary to the law is just plain silliness or ignorance,” he said.
On Monday, Zuma announced that Manyi was among a five-member team appointed to serve a three-year term. The others were Phenyo Nonqane, Rene Smith, Thato Mahapa, and Ingrid Louw. - Sapa