DRAMA is brewing behind the scenes at Soweto TV.
This after two company directors at the station were unlawfully dismissed by one of the board members, Tuis Nkutha.
One of the dismissed directors is media personality Tbo Touch, whose real name is Thabo Molefe.
He was accused of reducing employees’ salaries.
According to a letter from the board addressed to staff members, which Daily Sun has seen, an investigation into the matter was launched.
“The board would also like to remind staff that all decisions made by Mr Nkutha were unlawful,” the letter read in part.
The letter further revealed that the board decided to elect new directors.
Speaking to Daily Sun, Soweto TV founder, Tshepo Thafeng, said it was painful to learn about what was happening at the station.
“A community station is not a one-man show. A lot of people need to be consulted before actions are taken. What Mr Nkutha did was completely wrong,” he said.
“I cannot comment on whether the dismissed directors will be reinstated as there are a lot of stakeholders that need to be consulted.”
However, Tbo Touch told the People’s Paper he was reinstated as a director.
“It is unfortunate that documents were fraudulently fabricated for self-destructive practices. I’m glad the channel has been stabilised and the matter is with commercial crimes court,” he said.
Although he was reinstated, he shared that he has decided to leave the station at the end of May.
He explained the reasons Nkutha dismissed him.
“When the board took over in 2019, the channel was over R19,7 million in debt. The current board helped to reduce this amount by half. TV ad spent dropped significantly in 2020. We could have retrenched staff, but we opted for a 7% to 11% salary reduction,” he said.