SABC: the blind leading the blind

“The likes of Peter Matlare and Solly Mokoetla understood broadcasting. But these people now are not broadcasters and not media people, and know nothing about broadcasting and its revenue generation and the principles of programming,” the source said on condition of anonymity out of fear of victimisation.

Bankrupt, heavily-indebted and directionless, the SA public broadcaster is facing one the biggest crises of its seven decades of its existence, exacerbated by the global economic recession and political interference.

“SABC's current problems can be traced back to the board of Eddie Funde, not Kanyi's.

Huge salaries, unnecessary expenses

“When Matlare was at the helm, he downsized the organisation, most especially the senior leadership's club, but when Dali Mpofu came in he widened it, appointing a lot of GMs and engaged consultants here and there, which caused the SABC to pay huge salaries every month and incur unnecessary expenses,” the source said.

“Why do you bring a lawyer, without a broadcasting background, to run a huge and complex organisation such as the SABC? I am not trying to say that someone from another field cannot do a good job if appointed in a different field. But I want us to look at past experiences at SABC and see how things worked well under Matlare and Solly, who knew their game.

“Besides, under Dali Mpofu they brought in a different model of advertising without consulting the industry. I mean TV advertising is bought using a quarterly model not on a long period of time, let's say yearly, resulting in clients paying millions to broadcasters. e.tv is doing well because those guys know what they are doing.”

Commissioning editors slammed, defended

The source also said that the SABC started to lose money when Matlare left. The public broadcaster last financial year posted a deficit of close to R800 million, making it unable to meet its contractual obligations vis-à-vis the independent producers, who are owned more than R60 million.

Furthermore, the independent producers, actors and film directors have accused the SABC commissioning editors of arrogance and sadistic behaviour.

Certain commissioning editors reportedly want new faces for TV dramas, thus discarding veteran actors and apparently telling them that they were too old to be still appearing on TV, while some dramas were simply canned due to ‘lack of interest' from viewers and advertisers.

However, a top TV producer told Bizcommunity.com this week: “Actors and independent producers must not target commissioning editors. The problem lies with Mvuzo Mbebe centralising power content, which in the past lay with channels - as at the time of Romeo Kumalo.

“You cannot do that. Media is all about content, which must be relevant and enjoyable. Decentralise the power of content to channels and make the channels bosses responsible. If something does not work out, hold them responsible,” said the producer.