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Former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng has told the state capture commission of inquiry that it is wrong for people to taint his name.
Testifying for a third day in Parktown, Johannesburg, on Thursday, Motsoeneng raised concerns, saying that it was misleading to suggest that he was the only person who made crucial decisions.
Motsoeneng denied that he made irregular appointments at the SABC.
"Chairperson, the custodian of appointment is Human Resource. There is no way Hlaudi can wake up in the morning and appoint someone. Even if I wanted to do that, HR would say no," he said.
"It seems as there was no board at the SABC, I was the board. We have a board which I must account to. The way media have been portraying me. You had Dr [Ben] Ngubane, you have professors and you have lawyers. Are these people stupid just to be taken by this matric-less guy?"
"I don't think the people that were in charge of the SABC, they are respected, in my view, because it seems as if there was no board, there was no management. The only person was Hlaudi. It was my company, according to people, which is misleading chairperson.
Motsoeneng also told inquiry chairperson, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo: "People say: 'Hlaudi caused havoc at SABC [and the] SABC is collapsing because of local content'.
"Chairperson, how could [the] SABC collapse on local content when we [had] budgeted R600m for local content?" Motsoeneng asked.
He also told the commission that he was "not an angel", adding that he failed in other projects.
"I am very proud about the previous board. I am very proud about the SABC management because we achieved what we had to achieve," he said.
Motsoeneng also told the commission that when he was at the SABC he personally raised funds for elections when the government was supposed to fund elections.
He said he did not want the public broadcaster to depend on the government.
On Tuesday, Motsoeneng told the commission that he did not play any part in the decision to suspend or dismiss the so-called SABC 8 in 2016 when they spoke out against what they called "censorship" under his leadership.
The SABC 8 was the name given to a group of eight journalists who spoke out against a ban against protest footage.
Motsoeneng denied that it was a ban.
