SABC cuts losses by almost half

● The SABC will report a net loss of R590m for the financial year which ended in March.

This is an improvement for the broadcaster, which reported losses of R1.1bn in 2022/2023.

For newly appointed group CEO Nomsa Chabeli, the corporation is in a state of transition that is not only about reducing losses but also finding new revenue streams.

Chabeli has been in the job for two months. The SABC also has a new company secretary, Tebogo Moshakga, and CFO Yolande van Biljon has been given another five-year contract.

“We are not profitable and neither are we regressing. Our numbers will show that, once we publish our annual report,” Chabeli said in a wide-ranging interview this week.

“We’ve just ended the financial year and we have a loss of R590m, which is obviously significantly less than the R1.1bn that was posted last year.”

The broadcaster is forecasting a loss of about R242m for financial 2025.

“We are very clear on what needs to be done to achieve that reduction, to stabilise the SABC and make sure we are on the road back to financial health,” she said.

Chabeli said there is no silver bullet for SABC stability, but a corporate plan had been developed and a strategy was presented to the minister of communications, Mondli Gungubele, and parliament two weeks ago.

“We work in the most innovative industry in the world. To compete, we can’t sit back and say so-and-so is eating our lunch. We are allowing them to eat our lunch.

“It means we need to think differently ... We’ve looked at our revenue streams and said there’s an opportunity out there, we need to go out and fetch it. And based on what’s available, we are able to circumvent any talk about ‘day zero’,” she said.

Van Biljon warned her bosses last June that the SABC could end up having to apply for business rescue as its finances teetered on the brink. Without appropriate intervention or guidance, the broadcaster faced “day zero ”— the day it could not pay staff salaries.

Chabeli said the fact that the broadcaster was cutting its debt ruled out that scenario.

The “day zero” language was used because the focus was traditional and based on the revenue the broadcaster was getting — 83% from commercial activities, 13% from TV licence collection and a government grant predetermined in terms of the public mandate. The thinking at the time was that the broadcaster’s costs far outweighed its revenue and therefore it would reach day zero, she said.

The SABC’s biggest debt at R930m is with Sentech, the signal provider. It has payment plans with the rest of its suppliers that are being honoured. “We have not been in a situation where we are unable to pay salaries. We have just increased our staff salaries by 6% effective October 2023,” said Chabeli.

“Yes, there is risk. We were very honest to parliament and to the shareholder to say our budget for 2025 has an inbuilt risk, but risk is something that exists in organisations because nothing is guaranteed.

“We are very clear in terms of our shortage of income, very clear in terms of the revenue streams. What we haven’t explored is to offer incremental income. It is something that hasn’t been done before.”

Chabeli says the SABC has always focused on traditional advertising and TV licence collection for revenue, but is now looking at tracking its performance across different platforms and capitalising on the growth of its over-the-top, or streaming, service.

It was also entering agreements with other parties for content —“thinking outside the box, where not everything had to be selffunded or self-sustained”, and looking at what value-enhancing relationships the SABC had.

Chabeli said the broadcaster’s reach and access was unparalleled in the country. Though there was competition and global giants had entered the market, the SABC still had the largest reach and footprint across radio, TV and its newly introduced streaming platform.

“One of the key focus areas is how do you play to that strength and ensure the advertisers are able to see value in the audiences that the SABC has, and that we develop propositions relevant to our advertisers, to the brands that advertise on our platforms and to the consumers that consume our platform.”