Former SABC board chairperson Ellen Tshabalala dropped a bombshell on Friday when she claimed there was gross political interference at the SABC.

Tshabalala accused the governing ANC, its alliance partner the SACP and the official opposition, the DA, as political parties whose members sought to politically interfere in the business of the SABC.

Besides SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande, who is also the Minister of Higher Education and Training,Tshabalala refused to give the parliament ad hoc committee probing the SABC affairs names of other politicians who sought to influence the public broadcaster.

Tshabalala was answering a question about the so-called top set boxes, which she described as a technical matter.

Tshabalala said the SABC leadership decided to have a workshop on this technical matter which became a concern of the Cabinet "and everyone who wants to make noise in public like one of the ministers, to understand exactly what is that that we have to make a decision on".

"There was enormous pressure from the political space which was a surprise to us, to say why would Minister [Blade] Nzimande worry about the encryption?

"Why would minister prioritise the issue of digital terrestrial terrain over the funding model of the SABC which is in tatters?"

Tshabalala also revealed that deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa requested a meeting with the shareholder (Muthambi) who later briefed her (Tshabalala) about digital terrestrial television so that he too could respond to the cabinet and parliament with facts and understanding of "what this thing is".

Tshabalala revealed that within a week of joining the SABC in 2013, "we received a call from the communist party, from then spokesperson or deputy secretary, I don't know what was his position, but he was asking me to support Ministry (Yunus) Carrim on agreeing on the encryption".

Tshabalala revealed that at the time she didn't even know what encryption was.

"I said how do you get involved because my experience is that this is a technical matter ... especially after a court ruling which said (to ex-Minister Dina Pule) Minister, focus on policy-making and leave broadcasters to deal with issues of technical nature".

"We were inundated with politicians asking us to support this encryption.

"There is gross interference. It has a potential to derail even employees from giving the board correct information because they are influenced outside," added Tshabalala.

Tshabalala's predecessor Ben Ngubane who appeared before the committee immediately before Tshabalala, was adamant that there was no political interference at the SABC.

When committee chairperson, Vincent Smith, put this fact to Tshabalala, she retorted: "It could have been that at the level where he is, he didn't get anything that raised suspicion; but in my tenure there was a lot of political interference".

The committee has given Tshabalala until end of business day on Monday to submit in writing the names of the other politicians who sought to influence the SABC.

The SACP has reacted angrily to Tshabalala's allegations and a challenging her to give details of her allegations.

SACP spokesman Alex Mashilo said they were not surprised that Tshabalala mentioned names of SACP members (Nzimande, Carrim and Joyce Moloi-Moropa) in negative light.

Mashilo said this was because the SACP had been at the forefront of the campaign for her to produce proof of her academic qualifications or resign.

"We were at the forefront of the campaign to produce her academic qualifications and she is obviously holding a grudge," said Mashilo.

He said if Tshabalala fails to substantiate her allegations, the SACP reserves its rights to pursue the matter.

Witnesses who divulge information before Parliament and its committees are protected by parliamentary privilege.