This time, faction fighting could doom the broadcaster and whatever its weaknesses, the SABC plays a critical role in society and South Africa would be the poorer without it. By S'Thembiso Msomi
Not only does it have the biggest audience ratings - the SABC reaches 24million people a day - it is the only media group that broadcasts in all the official languages.
Without it, Afrikaans would probably be the only indigenous language we hear on radio and television because commercial broadcasters have proved to have no appetite for Xhosa, Venda, Sotho and suchlike.
The South African music and film production industries would collapse because no one broadcasts more local material than the SABC.
Lest we forget, it was the SABC that helped uplift local football to the commercial success it has become and, hence, boosted South Africa's chances of hosting the 2010 soccer World Cup tournament.
During the month-long extravaganza, it was a slogan invented by the broadcaster - "Feel it, it is hear" - that best captured the spirit of unity that had engulfed the country.
All the above are reasons enough for all of us to be concerned about the continuing turmoil at the SABC.
We can't just dismiss the power play between group CEO Solly Mokoetle and board chairman Ben Ngubane, on one side, and the rest of the board on the other, as the same old boring story of leadership infighting.
It has serious implications for this important institution because, if it is not stopped, it will plunge the SABC into depths of crisis last experienced during the Dali Mpofu era. Back then, Mpofu, who was CEO, was embroiled in a protracted power struggle with the board, chaired by Kanyisiwe Mkonza.
That power struggle seriously crippled the SABC, to the point that it could not meet its financial obligations and deliver quality programming to the public.
At the heart of that crisis was the broader battle for control of state resources between supporters of then-president Thabo Mbeki and those who backed ANC leader Jacob Zuma.
With the appointment of a highly competent interim board led by businesswoman Irene Charnley, in July last year, many had hoped that the SABC had broken with its dark past.
Charnley's team began charting a new path for the broadcaster by instituting an investigation into corruption in the organisation, and by introducing measures to improve the company's financial state. So, when Ngubane's board finally took office at the beginning of this year, it was widely expected to continue on the high road to success that Charnley's team had begun to travel.
At face value, the new board appeared destined for success. It had a wonderful mix of expertise and most of its non-executive members were highly respected.
But, eight months down the line, the new board is headed for calamity - taking the whole institution down with it.
The fundamental cause of this appears to be the same as that that led to the implosion of Mkonza's board - loyalty to competing factions in the ANC alliance.
It is no coincidence that the association of ANC armed-struggle veterans, the MKMVA, has publicly expressed support for Mokoetle. The suspended CEO is a former guerilla and is regarded by the MKMVA as a "comrade" who needs to be defended from the enemy.
The "enemy" in this instance is those board members with close ties to Cosatu and the SACP.
It is also no coincidence that the Cosatu-affiliated Communications Workers' Union has sprung to the defence of Mokoetle's opponents on the board. These include Cedric Gina, the former president of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA, and David Niddrie.
So, as was the case during the Mkonza/Mpofu era, the SABC finds itself trapped in the centre of a titanic battle between factions of the ANC alliance.
The only way the SABC can be rescued is for the board members - including Mokoetle and Ngubane - to put the interests of the broadcaster and the public before those of the factions they are aligned with in the ANC.
Failure to do this will surely result in yet another board implosion. And this, the SABC cannot afford - it is still trying to pull out of the mess it found itself in during the Mpofu/Mkonza era.
