SABC unveils new strategic outlook

SABC group executive CEO, advocate Dali Mpofu, made this announcement during a press briefing at the Johannesburg Country Club in Auckland Park yesterday, Thursday, April 20, 2006.

“Today, we are enthusiastic to announce that ‘Total Citizen Empowerment’ will be our keyword that will guide all our corporate goals as we move from a simple public broadcaster to a people-orientated and more technology-driven entity,” Mpofu said.

“The SABC will no longer be judged by the services that it is providing or the amount of money it is bringing in, but by the impact it is making in the daily lives of South African citizens,” he added.

He emphasised that each drama, news bulletin, current affairs, sports programme and other functions and support services must, from now on, impact positively on the viewers and listeners and answer the question ‘in what way did we empower the South African citizen today?’

“Each one of the 46-million people is our target, whether you are white, black, short, tall, man or woman, rich or poor. All are equal, constitute our wealth and symbolise our new strategic outlook.

“It does not matter how much money a public broadcaster makes every year. If it is not serving the viewers and listeners efficiently and effectively, and helping them make informed choices, it is not worthy to be called a public broadcaster,” Mpofu emphasised.

“As we move towards repositioning ourselves as an organisation that belongs to the people, we want to make sure that our services are relevant and provide information for development, entertainment that reflects national values and identities, and sports and other content that inspires personal changes.”

Citizen empowerment

SABC board member Thami Mazwai echoed Mpofu’s sentiments. “As a transformative society, we must make sure that delivery empowers our people as they watch us,” Mazwai said. “The total citizen empowerment punchline aims at ensuring that our current affairs and news tell stories in an empowering and balanced way. And as a public broadcaster, we will continue to play a critical role in maximising the transformation of our country.”

The new shift in focus and orientation will translate into fundamental changes to internal operations, programme content briefs, commissioning and content acquisition strategies, news, services delivery, content angles, human resources and resource allocations.

Mpofu said that these changes are necessary to enhance democracy, promote nation-building and social cohesion, reflect cultural and regional diversity in a unifying manner and achieve the objectives of Nepad and the African Renaissance.

Four pillars

The new strategic outlook is cemented in four pillars: people, operations, technology and funding. “Business is about people and broadcasting is for people,” Mpofu insisted.

“Television and radio operations are the means through which we interact with people. And in today’s digital age, an organisation cannot achieve its goals without the necessary technology and lastly, unless you get maximum funding you will not get what you want,” he said.

Currently, 85% of the SABC funding comes from advertising, 10 to 12% is generated from television licences and the rest (3%) comes from the national government.

But while it aims at investing and effectively exploiting distinctive, relevant and quality content across existing and new platforms, the public broadcaster also wants to ensure a viable and sustainable funding base and strategy to support the effective delivery of the public service remit.

Asked if its systems will be fully digitised and ready in time for the 2010 World Cup, Mpofu replied: “Of course, we will be ready by 2010. We are working together with Sentech to make sure that we meet our deadline. I cannot put a figure on this but it is an expensive operation. That is why we have been lobbying the government for additional funding for these operations and we are hopeful we will get there.”