Staff ‘will be paid’ at SABC

SABC acting chief executive James Aguma has admitted that the public broadcaster is in the middle of a financial crisis and has blamed gross political interference for the untenable situation at the corporation.

However, Aguma said that contrary to media reports they would still be able to pay about R200 million in staff salaries at the end of the month.

Speaking yesterday, Aguma painted a grim picture of a public broadcaster that had been hit hard by dwindling advertising revenue due to a slump in the global economy and the rising costs of running the news division, which employs about 1 000 people.

“All our 3 800 employees and 1 500 freelancers will get their salaries, there’s no doubt about that. But the SABC’s revenue is under pressure. The advertising and sponsorship revenue is down due to a downturn in the global economy,” he said.

Their strategic partners were also pulling out of the broadcaster as they did not want their contracts “to come under undue scrutiny. They say ‘don’t bring your politics’. But we will recover.”

Commercial sources including multinational companies were effectively funding the SABC as they accounted for about 85%, or R5billion, of the broadcaster’s R7bn total revenue.

Licences

Aguma said they only received 2% or about R165m in government grants per annum, while TV licences accounted for 1%.

“A 1% drop in advertising equals R50m in cash. Over the years advertising revenue has dropped by 3%.

“It’s across the board, it’s not just the SABC that has been affected, it’s other companies as well.”

Aguma blamed political interference for the challenges at the broadcaster, saying: “Look, I’m not saying the SABC is perfect, but the root cause of the problem is politics.

“It’s very hard to run a commercial business in a highly politicised environment. For me, that’s how I see it. All the previous boards have collapsed because of politics… because all the people come with a mandate to do this or do that. But that’s not what our funders are interested in, and a lot of criticism levelled at the SABC is unwarranted because no one is asking for context.”

In January, former SABC board chairwoman Ellen Tshabalala told the ad hoc committee looking at the challenges within the broadcaster that there was gross political interference at the corporation.

She identified the ANC, SA Communist Party and the DA as political parties whose members reportedly sought to interfere in the SABC’s business.

Aguma said he had been harassed by politicians due to his stance on how the broadcaster should be run.

“Politicians think I don’t respect them, but I have a duty to my 6 000 employees. I can’t allow politics to put their lives at risk.”

He then compared the SABC’s funding mechanism to that of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

According to last year’s annual report, which Independent Media has seen, the ABC’s source of revenue was Aus$120m (R1.2bn), while revenue from the Australian government amounted to more than Aus$1bn (R9.8bn).

In contrast, the SABC’s own source of revenue was R7.4bn, while government grants amounted to R167m.

“We can’t have a public broadcaster and call it as such, but don’t fund it. Look at the ABC,” said Aguma.

It had cost the SABC about R870m to run its news division last year, and covering the local government elections set them back R320m, he said, commending former chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng for raising R20m toward that.