Top court orders Hlaudi Motsoeneng to pay back SABC millions

5 hours ago 26

Top court orders Hlaudi Motsoeneng to pay back SABC millions

Controversial former SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng has run out of legal appeals and must now pay back an R11.5-million “success fee” he was paid by the public broadcaster.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) said the constitutional court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal by Motsoeneng of an earlier supreme court of appeal judgment which found him liable to pay back the R11.5-million – plus interest – to the public broadcaster.

Motsoeneng had appealed a January 2023 supreme court of appeal judgment, which had dismissed his appeal of an earlier high court judgment with costs. The high court in Johannesburg had found that the payment of the R11.5-million success fee was unlawful and invalid. He was ordered to pay back the original money, plus interest, which brought his liability to the SABC to R18-million.

The success fee related to his role in securing a contract with MultiChoice Group for broadcast rights.

It’s not clear whether Motsoeneng, who was seen as close to former President Jacob Zuma, has the means of paying back the money, though the SIU has already clawed back about R6.5-million from his pension benefits, which he will no longer receive.

“The SIU welcomes and sees the constitutional court’s decision of 18 September 2024 as a positive step as it clears the way to pursue the outstanding amount from Motsoeneng,” the investigating unit said in a statement on Thursday.

Last December, Motsoeneng told TechCentral that the SABC did “not have a leg to stand on”.

‘Couldn’t do what I was doing’

“There is a notion among the public that I was paid from public money, but that was money that I raised for the SABC. When I got to the SABC, it was in trouble financially – I took it from R400-million on the books to R1.4-billion [in cash], with R8-billion in revenue,” he said.

Motsoeneng said that when he left the SABC in 2016, the money coming into the broadcaster’s coffers decreased because the people who were left there “couldn’t do what I was doing”.