The SABC which made repeated promises and kept pushing the deadline out, last promised that a new set of locally commissioned briefs for shows would happen by December 2011. It's now 6 months later and the SABC is still not making any local shows besides heinously advertiser-funded productions (AFP's).
''A baker does not stop producing bread to save money; the broadcaster has to consider how to continue how to produce excellent programming,'' says the South African Screen Federation (Sasfed) and the Independent Producers' Organisation (IPO) in a joint statement, saying that the independent production sector in South Africa that employs 300 000 people - many of whom are dependent on a vibrant public broadcaster - are ''deeply concerned'' about the SABC's turnaround strategy and the place of local TV content and local TV content production within that plan.
''Sasfed and the IPO are concerned that the SABC's turnaround strategy appears to be going ahead without meaningful consultation with the production industry,'' the organisations say. ''The meaningful and sustained turnaround of the SABC cannot be mechanically based on its bottom line, driven by cost-cutting measures - which historically has seen production budgets, already stagnant for at least five years, as a foremost casualty.''
Sasfed and the IPO says the SABC is showing a ''lack of appreciation for the role of independent TV producers. ''The independent production sector is the custodian of decades of substantive insight into the operations and mechanics of the public broadcaster - but it is merely being paid lip service to. The central interest that it represents - that of content and the conditions required for its sustained and optimum production - is not being meaningfully accounted for in the turnaround plan for the SABC.''
