Hlaudi Motsoeneng

Hlaudi Motsoeneng is the leader of African Content Movement (ACM) who served as the acting Chief operating officer of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) from 2011 to 2013. Motsoeneng was removed from his position as Chief operating officer after his dishonesty was revealed, and he was found to have lied about his qualifications. After being removed as acting Chief operating officer it was announced that Motsoeneng would move back to his previous position as Group Executive Editor of Provinces and Corporate Affairs of the SABC. In December 2016, the Western Cape High Court ruled that Motsoeneng's appointment as Group Executive was illegal and that he was "not entitled to occupy any position at the SABC". In June 2022 the state capture commission proposed criminal investigations into possible contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act when group CEO Lulama Mokhobo and COO Motsoeneng concluded an SABC agreement with the Gupta owned TNA newspaper.

Early life Motsoeneng was born in either Phuthaditjhaba, Free State in South Africa or Thaba Bosiu in Lesotho, where he was raised by his aunt. His mother is a sangoma. He attended Qhibi Ha Sethunya primary school in Qwa Qwa, Free State.

Early career Motsoeneng's career began in Puthaditjhaba when he met Kenneth Mopeli, then Chief Minister of the South African bantustan of QwaQwa, who became his mentor. He would later explain that a Mrs Swanepoel from human resources told him to "fill in anything", while Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri was also chairman of the SABC at the time of his application. Motsoeneng is best known for his controversial tenure as COO of the SABC and close relationship with President Jacob Zuma. During his time at SABC Motsoeneng blocked any critical coverage of President Jacob Zuma leading the Public Protector to state that his actions threatened to entrench a culture of impunity of people in power. He was also widely known for the unusual nature of his press statements and demands on journalists working for the SABC. Often referring to himself in the third person and making non sequitur statements.

In February 2014, the public protector, Thuli Madonsela released a report entitled, “When governance and ethics fail” calling for the board of the SABC to take disciplinary action against Motsoeneng for dishonesty and the misrepresentation of his qualification, abuse of power and improper conduct in the appointments and salary increments for several employees. In 2014, the Democratic Alliance brought an interim application before the Western Cape High Court calling for Motsoeneng's suspension pending a disciplinary hearing. Motsoeneng appealed the decision, but was overruled by the Supreme Court of Appeals. In 2015, Motsoeneng was criticized for granting himself a salary increase from R2.8 million to R3.7million, despite a reported annual loss for the SABC of R395 million.

On 19 September 2016, the SABC board asked the Minister of Communications Faith Muthambi to appoint Motsoeneng as acting chief operating officer of the SABC until December 2016.

After the Democratic Alliance filed papers in court in October 2016 against his appointment as the Group Executive of Corporate Affair, on 12 December 2016, the Western Cape High Court's Judge Owen Rogers ruled in favour of the Democratic Alliance application. He declared Motsoeneng's appointment as being unlawful and irrational. A leaked copy of the report in January 2017 outlined problems in financial compliance, political interference, unlawful dismissals of board and staff, interference in editorial decisions and poor transparency in the sale of its archives to MultiChoice and purchase of copies of the New Age newspaper.

After a media briefing on 19 April 2017, presented while on suspension, Motsoeneng proceeded to criticise the SABC, its current board members and parliamentary ad hoc committee that investigated the organisation. The SABC felt he had breached the terms of his suspension and brought the organisation into disrepute and instituted a disciplinary hearing. On 12 June 2017, the SABC finally sacked Motsoeneng after an internal disciplinary hearing found him to having lied about his qualifications, firing and retrenching staff and policy violations in regard to salary increases. In August 2017, he failed to appear in the Labour Court to answer questions as to why he shouldn't be held personally responsible for wrongly dismissing eight SABC journalists in July 2016. He claimed he would become president, that the country would produce 90% of its requirements, that the economy shall be in the hands of the people, that company workers would become shareholders, that foreign companies would be forced to leave the country, and that social grants would be reduced.

Motsoeneng stated that he "was not really serious and at the time [...] did not even understand the art of politics" but that he intends to contest the 2024 general election both nationally and in the Free state province.