SABC loses another R1.1 billion, seeks government bailout

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) confirmed yesterday that it lost R1.1 billion in the last financial year and will need a lifeline from the government.

In the quarter that ended in March, the company bled R501 million compared with a target of limiting losses to R137 million. Its cash balance at the end of March was R32 million, chair of the interim SABC board Khanyisile Kweyama said.

The figure emerged in a briefing to parliament’s portfolio committee on communications that gave a picture of how the SABC would seek to right itself after the exit of Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the controversial former chief operating officer who was fired on Monday, and acting chief executive James Aguma, who was suspended last month. Kweyama said Motsoeneng would still face further disciplinary charges.

These relate to irregular spending on his watch, including his salary increases, and would see the company try to recover the money it lost under his watch.

Kweyama said the SABC envisioned that the remainder of the disciplinary process would stretch over a month, but also expected that Motsoeneng would play for time.

“The pattern has been one of delay … we expect that there will be questions to seek to delay the process,” she said.

She said there would be no parting payout for Motsoeneng as he had been fired. His attempt to secure a bonus of R11 million for his role in negotiating a contract with MultiChoice would be left to the Special Investigating Unit to probe, she added, noting it was not strictly a performance bonus.

Communications Minister Ayanda Dlodlo said she took issue with bonus payments at the SABC in general, given the “dismal” performance of the broadcaster, but more specifically because there was no performance scale in place against which the work of an employee could be measured.

Dlodlo deferred a question as to how big a lifeline the SABC would need from National Treasury, saying she would submit an application from the board to National Treasury and respond next week.

The minister and SABC chair confirmed that suspended group CEO James Aguma had misled MPs when he claimed that the SABC bore no costs for broadcasting the business breakfast show of Gupta-owned newspaper The New Age.

It had, in fact, cost the company R20 million and the contract to air the show had been cancelled with immediate effect.

Asked about two of Motsoeneng’s controversial policies, the ban on airing footage of violent protests and the local content quota, Dlodlo indicated that they would remain in place to some extent, for reasons not related to him.

She said SABC 1 had the most local content and was the most lucrative channel. It proved that South Africans wanted local content but the implementation needed to be nuanced and guided by the ANC’s policy. That currently sets a ratio of 60% local and 40% foreign content. – ANA