BREAKING. After shockingly bad appearance SABC is ordered back to parliament in mid-October to please explain what the &*#$ is going on.

It's so disastrous, it's breathless - and after the shockingly bad and deplorable appearance of the SABC in front of parliament this morning (and continuing this afternoon) government has ordered the SABC to return in mid-October to further, and again, explain what on earth is exactly going on at the beleaguered South African public broadcaster that is again asking for money.

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A massive barrage of criticism met the SABC board, lorded over by SABC board chairperson dr Ben Ngubane, this morning when a litany of failures, non-adherance to the stipulations of the government loan guarantee, non-sensical decisions like wanting to fire staff but needing to gear up for digital terrestrial television (DTT) and a hordes of other major shortcomings and failures were levelled against the SABC.

The members of the portfolio committee on communications ordered the SABC to return to parliament again as soon as mid-October to explain the massive mess at the SABC and ordered the suffering public broadcaster that's mired in labour action, debt and a dubious turnaround strategy to come with consolidated reports, actual budgets, and a turnaround strategy that is aligned with the government loan guarantee agreement ... and credible answers.

The monitoring task team that includes the National Treasury appointed to look into what is actually going on at the SABC, didn't waiver and levelled major criticism against SABC management. The committee wanted to know why the SABC wanted to retrench staff, whilst gearing up for DTT. ''Why are SABC employees retrenched only to return as consultants?'' wondered the committee. And SABC workers are miserable, said the committee who met with SABC staff last week. What is the SABC executive up to?

The SABC that this morning pleaded for more money for DTT, couldn't provide specific numbers and failed to have a specific budget number ready when the committee asked how much money the SABC deems the broadcasting behemoth needs for the switch-over from analogue to digital broadcasts in South Africa. ''We need full disclosure from the SABC,'' said the committee, saying that ''the SABC must admit its in the intensive care unit (ICU)!''

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