Former South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng will have to pay back the public broadcaster R11.5 million after his court loss.
On Friday, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg dismissed with costs, Motsoeneng’s leave to appeal the ruling from December last year.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has welcomed the latest court ruling against Motsoeneng. The ruling comes after the SIU and the national broadcaster approached the courts to recover money that Motsoeneng had benefitted from during his time at the SABC.
In December 2021, the high court found that the SABC board’s decision to pay Motsoeneng a R11.5 million “success fee” was “unlawful and invalid”.
The court had ordered at the time, that Motsoeneng had to repay R11.5 million to the SABC within seven days, with 15.5% interest dating back to September 2016, as well as the costs of application and two counsels.
“The court action was informed by the SIU investigation into the affairs of the SABC, which revealed that the SABC irregularly paid monies to individuals and entered into contracts to the detriment of the public broadcaster,” the SIU said.
Motsoeneng was awarded the success fee in 2016 for his role in securing the SABC a deal with MultiChoice.
The African Content Movement (ACM) leader is now expected to pay R11.508,549.12 plus interest after the court dismissed his leave to appeal with costs.
The SIU indicated that the former COO is risked losing his pension benefits if he failed to pay back the money which added up to a total of R22 million.
Source: News24, The Citizen, Eyewitness News, image from Twitter: SIU
