Outrage as ‘insolvent' SABC goes bananas

The public broadcaster, which last financial year posted a deficit of close to R800 million, owes more than R40 million to various TV production houses, according to reports published in the Mail & Guardian, The Independent on Saturday/Saturday Star, and The Weekender.

Blame

Kate Skinner, spokesperson for Save Our SABC Coalition, told Bizcommunity.com yesterday, Sunday, 17 May 2009, that the SABC governance structures, which include Parliament and ICASA, and the SABC oversight structures are to blame for this financial mess.

She said, “The SABC's financial and annual reports are presented annually to the Communications Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for analysis and debate. The MPs should have asked questions about these finances, and spending more time during the last parliamentary session dealing with the annual report (late 2008) rigorously quizzing the board and management on the finances - which they didn't.”

Skinner also blasted ICASA for not keeping tabs on the SABC and ensuring that the public broadcaster adheres to its charter and licence conditions, including local content quotas.

“ICASA should have been asking questions about the SABC's finances, given its impact on the production of local content. Unfortunately, it has remained silent throughout the unfolding crises.”

Hangs in the balance

As the SABC does not have money to pay these production houses, let alone communicate with them, according to the various media reports, the future of popular dramas and soapies such as Generation, Isidingo, 7de Laan and many more now hangs in the balance.

Skinner also lashed out at the SABC board and management for failing to inform Parliament, ICASA and the Department of Communications that they were getting into financial problems.

“For instance, when they presented the annual report to Parliament at the end of 2008, the CFO should have indicated that the SABC was in the dire financial straits and perhaps this would have been easier to solve the crisis and not been allowed to get this bad.

“Austerity measures should have been put in place a long time ago. There was talk at one stage of increasing the licence fee - but things like that take time. As soon as the SABC knew that it was going into deficit, it should have alerted everyone to the problems.”

Ongoing battles

Furthermore, Skinner said the other reason why the SABC is in the present mess is because of the ongoing battles between the board and management. “The board has not been able to hold management to account. This leadership crisis has allowed the financial controls to slip with serious consequences.”

Lesley Cowling, senior lecturer at Wits University's School of Media Studies and Journalism, said the government should stay away altogether from Auckland Park for the sake of the public broadcaster's stability.

“The SABC should be stabilised, and made more independent from Government, so that it can be insulated from ruling party political infighting. We need to rethink the ways in which the SABC can be made accountable to the people, as the current accounting process - through a board appointed by Parliament - has proved to be disastrous,” Cowling said.

For more:

• Bizcommunity.com poll: Should Government bail out the SABC?
  
• Bizcommunity.com: Solve the SABC leadership crisis - lobby group