In a grilling (that will be continuing later this afternoon at 14:30 after lunch) the SABC's top executive consisting of the remaining SABC board members, SABC board chairperson dr Ben Ngubane and the acting group CEO Robin Nicholson, already had to answer this morning about acrimonious infighting inside the SABC's upper management, the broadcaster's turnaround strategy, the ballooning debt, mismanagement and corruption issues, blaoted management structures and a litany of other issues before the parliamentary portfolio committee on communications. Today's proceedings are recorded and will be broadcast on the Parliamentary Service channel (DStv 408) today from 18:00 (Tuesday, November 23).
Robin Nicholson told parliament that the SABC is busy with an austerity plan that includes cuts to the marketing and traveling budgets. He also admitted that the SABC's 24 hour news channel SABC News International was shuttered earlier this year, haven't yet closed down all the international news bureaus since the broadcaster ''want to retain some capacity there''. Regarding the SABC's sliding market share in terms of viewers Robin Nicholson said the broadcaster is looking at ''schedule changes'' to try and woo viewers back.
Meanwhile SABC board members are secretive and not forthcoming about the 14 disciplinary hearings, including the currently indefinitely postponed disciplinary hearing against the suspended group CEO Solly Mokoetle. (Parliament has now demanded full reports on the disciplinary hearings.)The SABC chairperson dr Ben Ngubane is secretive and told parliament that the relationship between him and the SABC board is now fine, that they've ironed out their differences and that ''there's no divisions within the SABC board''. Robin Nicholson is secretive and refuses to talk about the turnaround strategy, saying that it contains ''sensitive commercial information''.
ALSO READ: SABC board appearance today before parliament no longer broadcast live; will be shown this evening.
