Forget the R3 billion, South Africa's commercially insolvent South African public broadcaster now needs R6.8 billion, the country's minister of finance, Tito Mboweni, revealed on Wednesday afternoon, saying the government will find a way to help the SABC.
The beleaguered SABC is once again hovering on the brink of financial collapse, once again adrift with an unstable and inquorate SABC board for months now, in a national election year.
Tito Mboweni revealed that the cash-strapped entity limping along and struggling to pay content providers like South African production companies and even to keep the electricity on, requires R6.8 billion to survive.
Briefing journalists in Cape Town on his budget speech, Tito Mboweni said the "the SABC needs R6.8 billion and the director-general (Dondo Mogajane) is having conversations with them on what they need. But if you take, something has to give".
"If they get the R6.8 billion they want, the chief restructuring officer that is dealing with Eskom will be on his way to Auckland Park. My advice to the SABC is to stay far away from National Treasury. But we will find a way to help them".
"The National Treasury has been in talks with the SABC but make no mistake - the SABC will most likely be placed in curatorship if they receive a bailout. Gone are the days where money is given out without checks, balances and oversight," said Tito Mboweni.
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