Court dismisses SABC, SIU second bid to recoup R2.4m paid as part of Mzansi Music Legends
Mzansi Music Legends was introduced at the SABC during former COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s tenure and saw 53 local 'music legends' receive R50,000 each from the public broadcaster.
Picture: Zaian via Wikimedia Commons
JOHANNESBURG - The High Court in Johannesburg has dismissed a second bid from the SABC and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to recoup R2.4 million that was forked out as part of Mzansi Music Legends.
Mzansi Music Legends was introduced at the SABC during former COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s tenure and saw 53 local “music legends” receive R50,000 each from the public broadcaster.
The Special Tribunal has since found that it was unlawful but stopped short of ordering Motsoeneng and nine other executives to repay the monies that had already been paid over.
The Special Tribunal found the SABC’s claim on the money that had already been paid over had lapsed.
But the High Court, in a majority decision penned by Judge Stuart Wilson, found this was a mistake.
It still agreed with the tribunal, though, that ordering the repayment of monies wouldn’t be just and equitable.
Wilson stressed that it wasn’t suggested the executives in question personally benefited from Mzansi Music Legends, as well as that many of them had disputed “the extent of their involvement in the conception”.
He found that ordering repayment could leave State officials personally liable for money they spent on the State’s behalf, even if they were acting in good faith at the time.