The vast public pressure group, Support Public Broadcasting Coalition (SOS) says it is "deeply concerned" by the current state of affairs at South Africa's public broadcaster where the SABC is once again experiencing a tumultuous year.
The coalition - which represents academics, TV and film production companies, big TV and film trade federation and production organisations, trade unions and instututes - says it has been trying to get a meeting with the SABC's "new" CEO Lulama Mokhobo for months but has been unable to.
On the agenda of the meeting the Coalition had hoped to discuss the local content issues of the SABC, the 24-hour news channel, the SABC's readiness towards digital terrestrial television (DTT), the public broadcaster's editorial policies, the SABC's turnaround strategy, as well as the SABC's financial situation.
In a statement the SOS Coalition says it believes that the SABC "as a public broadcaster needs to be open, reliable, efficient and effective".
The SOS Coalition says that the "toss and turn response that we are getting from the SABC CEO's office further alarms us" regarding the state of affairs at the country's public broadcaster.
The SOS Coalition is concerned about the SABC's new 24-hour news channel which is funded by millions of rands by MultiChoice and which will become a new TV channel on MultiChoice's DStv platform from the beginning of September.
"This channel will first be available on DStv and later be offered on digital terrestrial television when the signal comes on. The Coalition is concerned that the 24-hour news channel will show on DStv, excluding millions of South Africans that cannot afford subscription television. It is also not clear what DStv's involvement is in this 24-hour news channel."
"Further, there is another deal with DStv that the Coalition would like clarity on - which is the selling of the rights of their most popular soapies to DStv. Again a question arises: Why sell these rights? Especially at a tieme when the SABC is losing a lot of their viewers."
The SABC is also facing a major challenge in regard to its local content delivery on its television stations, says the SOS Coalition. "Not all languages are represented. The only Sepedi drama on the SABC right now is Bophelo Ke Semphego. This drama is over 25 years old and has been repeated countless times. This is a major challenge; the SABC is expected to produce new and exciting local drama that reflects the identities of all South Africans in the new democratic South Africa."
The SOS Coalition also says that the SABC - which is expected to review its editorial guidelines every 5 years - have not done so. "The last review was in 2004, eight years ago. "We urge the SABC to make this review a transparent and participatory process."
The SOS Coalition says Lulama Mokhobo has so far failed to publicly talk about specific programming strategies for the SABC under her tenure. "There is little to no discussion, outside of the implementation of policies and procedures, on the elevated programming course she will be steering."
"We are also dismayed at the lack of in-depth conversation as to what may have gone wrong in programming to lose the audiences that the SABC had. What editorial introspection has the SABC embarked on?"
The SOS Coalition says their meeting with Lulama Mokhobo has now been rescheduled again and this time for 22 August.
