Appalling. Desperately sad. A disservice to the South African public.
These are the words of the The Writers' Guild of South Africa (WGSA) representing writers in the TV, radio and theatre industry as this organisation is reacting to this morning's shocking appearance of the SABC board before parliament's portfolio committee on communications.
The portfolio committee and National Treasury took the South African public broadcaster to task for apparently cutting back on its budget for local TV content in a misplaced attempt to try and bring down its overheads and overall cost.
ALSO READ: At the SABC ''short term cost cutting is happening on content, posing a longer term risk for the SABC,'' National Treasury tells parliament.
ALSO READ: ''The SABC needs to get their house in order before they get further public funds,'' says the Support Public Broadcasting Coalition (SOS) pressure group.
''We am appalled and saddened by this short term thinking of the SABC regarding cutting back on local content,'' says the WGSA in a statement. ''Obviously this affects the livelihood of our members, but even more so it is a disservice to the South African public who the SABC are supposed to serve. This is desperately sad.''
ALSO READ: Shocker! SABC asks parliament for money AGAIN. Broadcaster failing to meet targets of government's loan guarantee; no plans submitted to National Treasury.
ALSO READ: Now the SABC wants almost R7 BILLION from the government over the next 3 years.
ALSO READ: SABC is ordered back to parliament in mid-October to explain what is going on.
