Irene Charnley, interim chairperson of the interim SABC board says the massive loss the SABC made can partially be blamed on ''the very public and sustained battles at a leadership level'' at the SABC.
The SABC has finalised and submitted its annual report and financial statements for the year ending 31 March 2009 and it ca be read HERE.
''The economic downturn inevitably impacted on the SABC’s revenue, however it would be disingenuous to blame this alone for the results,'' says Irene.
The SABC also admits that ''schedule instability'' has ''negatively impacted on revenue'' - meaning in normal language that the crazy scheduling, the broadcast of events at short notice and the incorrect broadcasting of adverts (which the SABC then has to pay back) has cost the broadcaster money.
* The SABC increased it's revenue bby 0,9% to R4 746 million, but its expenditure increased by 19%.
* Employee costs increased by 15% because the SABC appointed more staff.
* The SABC severly underbudgeted for the amount of international news bureaus it had.
* SABC News International was a HUGE DRAIN on the SABC's operational expenditure.
* The rights for movies and sports increased by 15%.
* The SABC paid 38,2% MORE in consultation and management fees.
* Then there's also the R6,7 million the SABC paid to the former group CEO, Dali Mpofu.
The external auditors noted ''fruitless and wasteful expenditure and non-compliance with company policies''.
Irene Charnley says ''it will take time, leadership and commitment to turn the organisation around. There are no quick fixes to a crisis of this magnitude.''
