The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) was hoping to get R1.5 billion in additional funding from government, but was rejected. File Picture: Karen Sandison / Independent Newspapers
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) was hoping to get R1.5 billion in additional funding from government, but was rejected.
According to Deputy Minister of Communications Phil Mapulane, despite the SABC being in dire financial straits, the National Treasury said there would be no additional funds.
Mapulane was briefing Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications on Tuesday and said the SABC was expecting the funds from the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).
During the statement, Minister Enoch Godongwana omitted any comment about the ailing State broadcaster.
“The argument was that because of the macro environment the SABC has painted, operating under the environment of analogue switch-off, and the need for the SABC to ensure the elections are covered, we submitted a motivation to the Treasury for R1.5 billion,” Mapulane told the committee.
“When the minister was tabling the MTBPS, that allocation was not accepted, so we didn’t get what we requested.”
Mapulane also told the committee that the SABC has recorded nearly R500 million in net losses in six months into the 2023/24 financial year.
Mapulane said the department had information on the latest financial performance of the SABC, and officials were analysing the public broadcaster’s third quarter financial report.
"Already, there is information we received that there is a net loss of about R464 million a year to date. While the corporate plan is projecting a surplus in terms of revenue, information at our disposal indicates there is a net loss of just below R500 million,” he said.
In September, the SABC recorded losses of R1.1 billion in the last financial year ending in March 2023.
SABC Board chairperson Khathutselo Ramukumba told Parliament that one of the main reasons for this was the non-payment of TV licences as evasion rates increased from 82% in 2021 and 2022 to “somewhere upwards of 87%”.
Ramukumba also noted that the more than one billion rand loss was also exacerbated by load shedding, analogue switch-off due to a reduction in advertising, and competition from streaming services.
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