Jacob Zuma in yet another cabinet reshuffle dumps Ayanda Dlodlo and appoints Mmamaloko Kubayi as new minister of communications; wrote matric just a decade ago in 1997.

South Africa's TV industry - including TV executives, producers and SABC insiders - reacted with groans, dismay and universal negative sentiment following South African president Jacob Zuma's latest abrupt cabinet reshuffle.

On Tuesday Jacob Zuma dumped Ayanda Dlodlo as minister of communications and replaced her with Mmamaloko Kubayi.

Mmamaloko Kubayi who now oversees South Africa's TV, film and radio industry and public broadcasting institutions like the SABC has less experience and knowledge of it than an entry to mid-level producer.

Ayanda Dlodlo is gone after less than 6 months, unceremoniously shunted to minister of home affairs.

It means yet another hard reset and a restart that will undoubtedly include local and international "educationals" for Mmamaloko Kubayi on a range of massive crisis issues ranging from the struggling and commercially insolvent SABC, to South Africa's long-stalled digital terrestrial TV (DTT) migration process.

The axing of Ayanda Dlodlo - who recently lost the trust of South Africa's TV industry - and her replacement on Tuesday with Mmamaloko Kubayi makes Mmamaloko Kubayi South Africa's 7th minister of communications in 7 years.

The move was met by universal criticism from South Africa's TV biz, with people in South Africa's TV business but not seeing it move ahead, voicing their scorn and concern.

Several currently working in South Africa's TV business, reacted and spoke on condition of anonymity since they don't want to damage existing working relationships, contracts and agreements.

"Shocking but not shocking," a veteran TV producer doing shows for the SABC and pay-television told TVwithThinus on Tuesday.

"He [Jacob Zuma] clearly doesn't care about South Africa's TV industry. The challenges can't be bigger and yet incompetent communication ministers keep coming and going in a blur. They change nothing except to add to more instability within our broadcasting business."

A high-level TV executive called the situation "hopeless". "Redundant ministry, redundant minister; irrelevant to ordinary people from set builders to programmers to executive producers who just want to earn an honest living in this industry and see conditions improve."

"Disempowering. Disappointing. Another step backwards in ongoing regression. But not surprising, it's what we've come to expect," said a veteran female executive producer who also own a production company. "We don't matter."

"What's first? Another educational to America to familiarise herself with digital TV migration so she's educated for what - the next few months? A listening tour to meet disgruntled SABC staffers? Tea with Icasa? It's quite destabilising," said a studio executive insider.

"Director of Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) William Bird says "to have seven ministers of communications in seven years is simply a disaster in whatever parameter you look at it. Either the government doesn't know what they're doing, they are continuously appointing the wrong people or communications isn't a priority."

The Support Public Broadcasting (SOS Coalition) said in a statement "We are shocked by this morning’s sudden cabinet re-shuffle. This re-shuffle brings the number of ministers of communications to seven under Jacob Zuma's rule".

"This game of musical chairs has caused upheaval and instability that begins in the ministry of communications, runs right through the SABC and can be felt by the millions of SABC dependent households who bear the burdening impact of fluctuating policies and the lack of commitment to public interest, citizen-orientated policy making and broadcasting services."

Support Public Broadcasting (SOS Coalition) and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) files urgent court application demanding that Jacob Zuma appoints the new SABC board.

The public pressure group Support Public Broadcasting (SOS Coalition) and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) on Friday filed a joint application in the High Court in Johannesburg,demanding that South African president Jacob Zuma appoint the permanent SABC board within 48 hours.

The rudderless and cash-strapped SABC, deep in debt, posted a R977 million loss and continues to drift aimlessly without any SABC board since Jacob Zuma refuses to rubber-stamp the appointments sent to him a month ago by parliament.

With no board since the term of the SABC interim board lapsed, South Africa's minister of communications Ayanda Dlodlo who says she doesn't want any on the SABC interim board members to serve on the permanent SABC board, secretively delegated the accounting authority of the SABC board to current acting SABC CEO Nomsa Philiso.

This past Thursday Ayanda Dlodlo suddenly rushed to abruptly extend the terms of the executives who have been acting in all of the SABC's top executive positions.

Ayanda Dlodlo who has lost trust from South Africa's TV industry after promises to save, properly clean up and stabilise the SABC, extended the terms of Nomsa Philiso (acting SABC CEO), Bessie Tugwana (acting SABC COO) and Thabile Dlamini (acting SABC CFO) who will all continue in their acting roles with their acting appointment terms extended until the vacancies for these positions are filled on a permanent basis.

Meanwhile SABC staffers on the verge of revolt, are planning strike action and are demanding the removal of several alleged executives who are so-called "Hlaudi enforcers" like acting news boss Kenneth Makatees, Nothando Maseko and for an investigation into the appointment of Bessie Tugwana as acting COO.

There's now calls for an urgent parliamentary meeting to be held this coming week.

In their joint urgent court application, Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and the Support Public Broadcasting Coalition (SOS Coalition) is demanding that Jacob Zuma appoint the new permanent SABC board within 48 hours if he wants to avoid legal action.

Besides Jacob Zuma, the SABC, Ayanda Dlodlo, the Economic Freedom Front (EFF) political party and the SABC interim board are all listed as respondents.

"It is declared that Jacob Zuma's failure to appoint or/and undue delay in appointing the fifth to sixth respondents (interim board) as non-executive members of the SABC board is unlawful and unconstitutional," says MMA and SOS in the urgent court application.

"As a matter of law, the president has no discretion regarding whether to appoint SABC board members identified by the National Assembly. The only role for the president is to determine the chairperson and deputy chairperson from the board members identified by the National Assembly."

"This makes the delay in appointment, with respect, simply inexplicable."

If Jacob Zuma fails to appoint the SABC board on Monday 16 October, he will have to file a notice of intention to oppose the MMA and SOS Coalition court application by 17:00, and will have to file his answering affidavit by Tuesday 17 October.

Communications minister Ayanda Dlodlo again extends the acting terms of the SABC's acting CEO, COO and CFO, this time until permanent appointments are made.

South Africa's minister of communications, Ayanda Dlodlo on Thursday afternoon announced that she has extended the acting appointments of the beleaguered South African public broadcaster top executives yet again for another few months, the announcement coming just hours before their terms were to lapse at midnight tonight.

The struggling SABC facing a possible strike, deep in the red and having posted yet another and growing R977 million annual loss, is adrift without any permanent or interim board since South African president Jacob Zuma refuses to appoint and rubber-stamp the names that was sent to the presidency from parliament after an public interview and appointment process.

Ayanda Dlodlo announced that Nomsa Philiso (acting SABC CEO), Bessie Tugwana (acting SABC COO) and Thabile Dlamini (acting SABC CFO) will all continue in their acting roles with their acting appointment terms extended until the vacancies for these positions are filled on a permanent basis.

All of the SABC's top executive positions remain acting positions who can't take or make incisive and sweeping decisions, and with no board to direct or do corporate governance and proper oversight, the financially fragile SABC remains adrift in a stormy broadcasting sea, battered from all sides.

Nomsa Philiso, Bessie Tugwana and Thabile Dlamini were appointed in their respective acting positions in July and were supposed to serve until mid-October when permanent appointments were  to have beeto have been made, along with a new permanent SABC board.

Yet Ayanda Dlodo as new communications minister and president Jacob Zuma have failed the South African public and SABC viewers and listeners who are expected to pay an annual SABC TV licence fee, by not ensuring stability at the South African Broadcasting Corporation and making sure that proper appointment deadlines are being met.

Ayanda Dlodlo in a statement on Thursday said she extended the acting CEO, acting COO and acting CFO appointments citing the now often-used, fall-back paragraph from the Memorandum of Incorporation of the SABC, that her predecessor, the incompetent Faith Muthambi, used several times over the past two years.

Ayanda Dlodlo said the Memorandum of Incorporation of the SABC allows her to appoint "any person to act in the stead of the CEO, CFO and the COO shall only be appointed for a period of three months, subject to any extended period being approved by the minister".

In the statement Ayanda Dlodlo said "I hope this will enhance stability, ensure continuity and facilitate a seamless transition and a proper handover process for the incoming board."

What will actually enhance stability would be for Ayanda Dlodlo to have made sure there are a permanent CEO, COO and CFO in place at the SABC by now - as well as for president Jacob Zuma and Ayanda Dlodlo to have made sure that a permanent SABC board is in place before the term of the interim SABC board expired.

SHOCKER: Almost a THIRD of the SABC's outside broadcast trucks are not usable - need to be upgraded but out-of-cash broadcaster isn't able to.

Shockingly, almost a third of the cash-strapped and beleaguered SABC's outside broadcast trucks - called "OB vans" in the TV biz - are not usable, the public broadcaster has revealed.

"There are crucial issues about people who are producing content for us, sport broadcasts that we are mandated to carry by the Broadcasting Act which we are scaling down because we don't have the money," Mathatha Tsedu, deputy chairperson of the SABC interim board said in an interview.

Mathatha Tsedu revealed in an interview on SABC2's Morning Live that "our OB trucks, almost a third of them are not usable. We need to upgrade them; we can't do that."

"So the board has taken a decision that we're only going to do those things that are necessary for us to do."

Six years after rife mismanagement, corruption and mismanagement brought the SABC to the brink of financial collapse in 2009 that saw the SABC thrown a R1.47 billion bailout lifeline from the government with stringent rules attached - 6 of which the SABC failed to adhere to - the financially under water SABC is once again in dire need of yet another government bailout. 

Communications minister Ayanda Dlodlo continues to refuse to tell the South African public what the mega-amount bailout is that the South African public broadcaster has requested from Treasury this time to keep the struggling South African public broadcaster afloat that is falling further and further into the red.

After shocking mismanagement and maladministration, the SABC is in dire need of a cash splash in order to pay millions of rand in arrears and back payments due to a range of creditors from content producers and the signal distributor Sentech to others.

"There are appointments, there are unprocedural bonuses that people were paid - some in millions, some in thousands - there are a whole host of irregular things that contributed to the R5.1 billion over five years of irregular expenditure," said Mathatha Tsedu.

"A whole host of production companies that keeps shows going, that give us content, we haven't even been able to pay them because there isn't money. Every month it's really a process of negotiating with this producer and giving them half and see whether mid-month you're going to give them the balance."

"There's just so much money that is owed to people who have already done work for the SABC - work for which they should have been paid by now which we haven't been able to do because there is no money," said Mathata Tsedu.

SABC MultiChoice channels deal an 'onion'

Regarding the highly controversial SABC MultiChoice deal, Mathatha Tsedu said "it's an onion that will have to be peeled one layer at a time".

In the controversial deal, the SABC supplies the SABC News (DStv 404) and SABC Encore (DStv 156) channels to MultiChoice DStv satellite pay-TV platform. 

It saw the now-fired controversial chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng pocket a R11.4 million bonus just for signing the contract. 

Questions have also been raised about how the controversial deal links with South Africa's digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration and the issue of set-top box (STB) control, as well as who is in control of the SABC archives. The SABC told parliament that MultiChoice's doesn't control its archive, but said that it is sending "a tape a day" to MultiChoice.

"We are keen as the SABC interim board to see SABC News as a TV news channel continuing, to see SABC Encore continuing."

"Insofar as we are concerned, we would want these SABC channels to continue."

Some SABC stations badly affected by 80% local quota

On Hlaudi Motsoeneng's unilateral and destructive "90% local content" for SABC radio and "80% local content" for SABC3 introduced in mid-2016, Mathatha Tsedu said "the issue has never been about whether it is good or bad to have more local content."

"It is the manner in which the decision was implemented across all platforms without consideration on how it was affecting some platforms.And it's not all platforms. The African language stations were not affected, they were already playing in that zone."

"But stations like Metro FM on some days - especially Sundays - were heavily affected. 5FM, Good Hope FM, Lotus FM - they were badly affected," said Mathatha Tsedu.

He said SABC platforms badly affected by the decision have been given the right to "correct the process that has been bleeding them".

"SABC stations have lost audiences and as a result they have lost revenue. That is an undeniable fact."

"Similarly with television. SABC1 is okay. SABC2 is not badly affected but SABC3 is."

SABC TV licence fees dip because of bad news

While the SABC on basically a daily basis remains in the news headlines for the wrong reasons, Mathatha Tsedu said "every time there is a cycle of bad news around the SABC, the revenues from the SABC TV licences dip."

"How do you get credibility back into the products that the SABC produces? The credibility of the SABC is not just judged by how Muvhango's story line is going or how 7de Laan's story line is going. The major credibility point of the SABC is its news output."

"The editorial code is now going out for public comment," he said, noting that the SABC is starting a series of workshops for SABC journalists to re-educate themselves on how news at a proper public broadcaster should be done.

The series of workshops will involve all the journalists of the SABC from across South Africa. "We're bringing in experts from different broadcast houses - including the BBC and other journalists - to just start talking about what is it that a public broadcast journalist should be doing and not doing."

"SABC journalists should now feel free to do the things that they have been trained to do and ignore all the things that are not journalistically defensible that they have been told to do."

"If anybody pushes anything on any SABC journalist that is unethical, the SABC board is there as a sounding board, they can come to the board and say 'I'm being forced to do something that is unethical', and we will deal with whoever that person is," said Mathatha Tsedu.

The cash-strapped SABC owes its signal distributor, Sentech, millions of rands in backpay after out-of-cash broadcaster fell behind with even its crucial signal service payments.

The beleaguered South African public broadcaster is so out of cash and has been run into the ground to such an extend that it has stopped paying the South African parastatal signal distributor, Sentech, that broadcasts its TV signals, with the SABC that owes Sentech millions of rands.

The beleaguered and cash-strapped SABC came dangerously close to a blackout of its TV signals in South Africa after falling behind with its monthly payments to Sentech and has had to make a payment agreement with Sentech that it will start paying its arrears once it gets its next new mega-million rand bail-out from the South African government.

So far South Africa's minister of communications, Ayanda Dlodlo, has refused to tell the South African public how much the new SABC bailout will be. The 2009 SABC bailout was R1,47 billion - the last time the SABC came to the brink of financial collapse.

According to reports the SABC owes Sentech over R136 million, with a monthly bill of R62 million that is due and that is stacking up because the SABC isn't paying.

According to reports the SABC paid Sentech R32 million in April which fell to just R18 million in May and nothing in June.

Sentech will keep distributing the SABC's broadcasting signals although it's not getting paid by the SABC, although the public broadcaster will have to make a mega-payment to Sentech once its gets its government bailout money.

The SABC interim board and Sentech's board met on 15 May where Sentech agreed to keep the SABC's signals on.

"Sentech has had engagements with the SABC and a payment agreement was established between the parties," says Milisa Kentane, Sentech spokesperson.

SABC tells parliament: It's 2017 but we're using tapes like it's 1980.

The out-of-cash SABC hovering on the brink of financial collapse has shocked the new interim board members, new communications minister, as well as returning staffers, who discovered that the broadcaster not only has no money for the switch to digital terrestrial television (DTT) but is still using tapes.

Like a real-life Upside Down in the hit Netflix TV drama Stranger Things set in the 1980s, the SABC’s Auckland Park headquarters and its regional offices across the nation are caught in a bizarre time warp, working as if it’s still living in the era of the Sony Walkman, VHS video cassettes and Betamax video players.

Mathatha Tsedu, SABC interim board deputy chairperson revealed to parliament that although the media and broadcasting world of 2017 is a fully digital environment, the beleaguered South African Broadcasting Corporation is operating in an old and outdated analogue bubble as if it’s still the 1980s. 

“The majority of the SABC’s outside broadcasting (OB) trucks that do the outside broadcasts are analogue,” Tsedu told parliament’s portfolio committee on communications.

“So we need to replace them. It’s just that simple.”

“The SABC buys content outside in digital form. But when we store it, because we don’t have digital storage, we store it in tapes. So we buy it as 2017 content, and we store it as 1980 format.”

Mathatha Tsedu explained to parliament how the SABC will have perform a Back to the Future like miracle maneuver to catch up with digital broadcasting at some point in the future.

“When the SABC eventually gets money to get a digital library we’re going to have to take our 2017 content – that we took back to 1980 – back to whatever the year will be when we do that,” said Mathatha Tsedu.

“Even in the news broadcasts, the final output of news still goes, some of it, in tape – in 2017! There’s need for a huge budget that should help us to cross over.”

Current affairs ‘still working on tapes’

An SABC current affairs producer in mid-April during a "rediffusion" staff session with the new SABC interim board, told the board that she was shocked to find upon her return to the South African public broadcaster that the SABC still works with tapes.

She stood up and said “I returned to the SABC 20 months ago. It was like moving back in time."

"The technology or the lack of technology in this place is shocking. In TV current affairs we're still working on tapes."

"In current affairs there are 7 or 8 cameramen available to all the current affairs programmes. We've been told we can only have one cameraman, per programme, per week. How are we supposed to shoot our inserts?"

Dumile Mateza, TV news presenter said the SABC News (DStv 404) channel the SABC supplies to MultiChoice’s DStv satellite pay-TV platform “is under threat."

"The channel started in 2013. We had a channel head. Today SABC News doesn't have a channel head. It means the channel has been driven by freelancers, all the time. All the staff you see on that channel has been driven by freelancers."

"When the SABC got the chance to set up this channel on DStv, they got the opportunity to start something that they could take forward once digital TV migration comes in. SABC News has been neglected."

"We have been rudderless on the SABC News channel since Themba Mthembu retired three years ago and we have been left to our own devices."

Poobie Pillay, an SABC advertising executive said "Landmark was implemented last year April. Landmark is an ad booking system that was meant to book client adverts and run across all 18 SABC radio stations. Landmark wasn't tested before implementation, there was no research done as to why we should use this software system for radio."

"The SABC has lost million by using and implementing the Landmark system. My colleagues and I've got clients on a daily basis ... we've got, Afrikaans ads are on Ukhozi FM; it's just a mess. We can't execute competitions and we are losing millions of rand."

"It's a year later and we're passing credits of over R100 million to clients."

No money for digital TV switch

Last week Ayanda Dlodlo, the new minister of communications, told parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) that the SABC doesn’t have any money for the broadcaster’s long-delayed switch from analogue to digital TV (DTT), a process known as digital migration.

In September 2011 SABC executives and the board promised parliament that the SABC’s DTT offering will entail 18 TV channels – 17 TV channels and one interactive video service channel.

In May 2015 the SABC’s former controversial chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng said the SABC will launch its DTT offering with only 5 channels.

In April 2016 Hlaudi Motsoeneng said the SABC will launch 4 so-called “language-based” TV channels: one Sesotho, Setswana and Sepedi language TV channel; one Nguni focused channel for Zulu, Xhosa, Siswati and Ndebele; a third channel for Tsonga and Venda language speakers; and a fourth SABC TV channel for Afrikaans viewers.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng said he secured R1 billion for the SABC for the production of new local TV content for these "language-based" channels. Over a year later, again nothing materialised.

Ayanda Dlodlo told SCOPA that the SABC’s latest bailout request to treasury – similar to the one it got in 2009 in the form of a R1.47 billion government guaranteed loan from Nedbank – was completely inadequate, since the SABC, beyond staying afloat, must also switch to digital broadcasting.

“What was presented to me, does not take account of that fact that we are moving from analogue to digital. Therefore the funding request does not cover all of those things that are related to the migration from analogue to digital.”

“So to me, it was a funding request that was inadequate. It was almost like putting Elastoplast on a wound, instead of treating the wound,” said Ayanda Dlodlo.

While other South Africa broadcasters like M-Net and available streaming services in Africa like Naspers’ ShowMax and Netflix work in a fully digital environment with digital playout and literally beam episodes and seasons of shows in by satellite to vast digital libraries, the SABC struggles on with tapes.

In April the SABC experienced severe schedule disruption and had to delay the start of the new season of Survivor San Juan Del Sur on SABC3 when the channel’s playout division suddenly discovered technical issues with the tape it was unable to fix in time for broadcast.

SABC advertises for positions of CEO, COO, head of SABC radio and audit boss - in print - a year after saying it won't place ads in print media anymore.

The beleaguered South African public broadcaster is advertising for a new chief executive officer and a new chief operating officer - and in print - a year after announcing its ditching external media for job ads.

On Sunday the SABC paid for placed advertisements in English South African newspapers like The Sunday Times and City Press exactly a year after SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago in April 2016 said that the embattled broadcaster has "decided that it will advertise its employment vacancies and tender advertisements on the SABC's television, radio and digital platforms only".

At the time the SABC said "this decision will be implemented with immediate effect; the public broadcaster will no longer place advertisements in any print and other media platforms".

On Sunday the SABC said its looking for a new permanent CEO, COO, chief audit executive and a head of SABC radio - positions that had been vacant for months at the broke broadcaster that's lurching from crisis to crisis and asked Treasury last week for another mega bailout.

The closing date for applications for these positions are 26 May 2017 and enquiries about the positions can be made to Mosima Selekisho at mosimas@talent-africa.co.za and telephone 011 771 4800.

Notably the position of SABC COO - formerly occupied by the famously matricless and controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng currently suspended and facing a new disciplinary hearing this week - requires candidates now to have "a relevant post-graduate qualification", 10 years experience in the broadcasting industry of which 5 years must be at executive level in the media industry.

The SABC last advertised for a CEO seven months ago in October 2016 but no appointment was made after the broadcaster fired Frans Matlala who was allegedly axed because he helped National Treasury with an investigation into Hlaudi Motsoeneng's procurement of a multi-million rand studio that was constructed without having been put out to tender.

The new SABC CEO - the troubled public broadcaster has gone through 11 since 2009 with James Aguma as the latest acting CEO - faces one the biggest challenges in the corporation's history with the SABC again on the brink of financial collapse as it was seven years ago when it got a R1.47 billion government bailout.

The SABC only has R110 million the bank, recorded a massive loss of R509 million in the fourth quarter of 2016 and its losses in the three quarters of 2016/2017 now stands at over R1 billion - its biggest loss in a financial year.

For months, since February, the SABC has been unable to pay content producers and struggling South African production companies what they're due, with the new minister of communications, Ayanda Dlodlo who will be meeting with the Independent Producers' Organisation (IPO) this week.

Communications minister Ayanda Dlodlo says she doesn't understand why SABC sold its archives to MultiChoice and that the controversial deal makes no sense.

South Africa's new communications minister Ayanda Dlodlo says she is shocked that the SABC allegedly sold the public broadcaster's archives to pay-TV operator MultiChoice in Hlaudi Motsoeneng's controversial deal, that she doesn't understand how it could happen and that it makes no sense.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Ayanda Dlodlo says "I'm not even sure what the relationship is" between MultiChoice and the SABC.

She's talking about the highly contentious and controversial deal the SABC's former chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng signed in which the SABC provides the SABC News (DStv 404) and shoddily-run SABC Encore (DStv 156) channel with old rerun library series to DStv.

"From where I sit, the archives of the SABC are the arhives of the South African nation. My gut response is that I cannot understand how we could hand over the archives of a national asset to a private entity which is also your chief competitor," said Ayanda Dlodlo.

"On the face of it I don't see how it makes sense. I really don't."

Asked if she's going to undo the MultiChoice SABC deal, Ayanda Dlodlo says "I would first have to see what the terms and conditions of that are."

Asked if Ayanda Dlodlo is going to withdraw the controversial Broadcasting Amendment Bill, she said "I don't know. I haven't gone through the bill. I've been asking for a copy and I'm still waiting."

Broke SABC has launched a new campaign asking viewers to pay their SABC TV licences as 'an investment in the future of our country'.

The out-of-cash SABC that urgently needs a massive cash injection before the end of this month has launched a new public awareness campaign this month asking South Africans to pay their SABC TV licences, saying it "is an investment in the future of our country".

"As the SABC we say, pay your TV licence as everything is #MadePossibleByYou," says the SABC in a statement.

The South African public broadcaster currently has 9 million active SABC TV licence payers on its database.

South Africa however has over 19.1 million TV households, with the vast majority of the over 44 million TV viewers not paying for a SABC TV licence.

The SABC says it has "embarked on a drive to create awareness around the benefits of paying your TV licence" with the latest marketing campaign that will use SABC on-air talent like Leanne Manas, Ismail Abrahams and Thomas Mlambo hitting the road to share stories of how the payment of TV licences has made it possible for them to contribute to the lives of others.

SABC viewers are also seeing the late actor and producer, Joe Mafela who unexpectedly passed away last month, as part of the marketing campaign. He was included in the latest SABC TV licence campaign and recorded a message two weeks before his death.

"The TV licence fee that the public pays does not only directly fund investment in much-needed media infrastructure and content development; it contributes to enabling the youth to acquire valuable skills. Therefore, paying your TV licence is an investment in the future of our country," says SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago.

The crippled SABC that's bleeding the last of its cash reserves and that has stopped paying all its service providers and TV producers at the end of March, is urgently waiting on the new minister of communications, Ayanda Dlodlo as well as treasury to hear what kind of bail-out the public broadcaster will get to help it stay afloat.

New minister of communications Ayanda Dlodlo: 'My expertise is in other areas', admits she knows little of digital TV migration, doesn't know if Hlaudi is still being paid.

South Africa's new minister of communications, Ayanda Dlodlo in an interview admitted that her expertise is in other areas, that she knew little of South Africa's digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration process before starting her new job this week, said she doesn't know if Hlaudi Motsoeneng is still being paid and that the SABC is going to be one of the most difficult organisations to deal with.

The former deputy minister of defense in an interview on the SABC's Morning Live on Thursday said her appointment as South Africa's new minister of communications after an abrupt cabinet reshuffle by president Jacob Zuma late last week came as a surprise since "my expertise is in other areas, but obviously, the president knows what's best".

Ayanda Dlodlo said digital migration - South Africa's long-delayed and controversial process of switching from analogue to digital TV broadcasting - is "a learning experience for me because I've heard people talk about set-top boxes (STBs) and digital migration, but I've never understood the context of what it actually meant".

South Africa's DTT process and roll-out has been besieged by government and broadcasting regulator ineptitude, differing commercial interest, allegations of corruption with STB manufacturing, in-fighting between broadcasters, in-fighting between manufacturers, uncertainty over broadcasting and manufacturing standards, slow government-subsidised DTT distribution to poor viewers, uncertainty over encryption inclusion, and dragged out court cases.

Ayanda Dlodlo said she's meeting with the broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), the SABC, manufacturers next week and a lot of stakeholders and roleplayers to implement DTT "as soon as we can". "We can't afford another delay."

She said the most important thing for her is "to get the SABC back on its feet".

"Everybody that I speak to says to me 'please get that place in order'. So that's the most important thing, getting the SABC afloat financially, ensuring that the SABC board is fully functional, but also ensuring that the acting positions are done away with."

"People must go back to their positions, people must start working, we appoint a new CEO. All of that work needs to be done as soon as yesterday," said Ayanda Dlodlo.

She called the SABC's situation with the beleaguered public broadcaster, once again on the brink of financial collapse like in 2009, "extremely worrying".

On Wednesday Ayanda Dlodlo "had a meeting with the minister of finance to try and sort out the issues around the financial status of the SABC. There are processes we've decided upon, that will be implemented soonest."

Ayanda Dlodlo said she thinks the SABC "is going to be one of the most difficult institutions to deal with. Over years, the SABC over years has had problems. And it's not because of Hlaudi Motsoeneng or whoever was the CEO. I think it was just a structural issue."

"I don't even want to put the problem on one individual or one set of a leadership team as being the only problem, or the problem. I want to be a little more focused on the broader picture than looking at individuals. How does the system work."

Ayanda Dlodlo was asked if the famously matricless and controversial former chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng is still being paid and still an employee of the SABC.

"Well, I don't know," she said. "I do not know at this point."

Another new massive SABC bail-out looming as new communications minister Ayanda Dlodlo meets with treasury 'to get the SABC afloat financially'.

Another massive government bail-out for the SABC is once again coming to prevent the beleaguered and cash-strapped public broadcaster from going over a cliff.

The SABC – unable to pay staff, TV producers and service providers – is once again at risk of its broadcasting operations seizing up at the end of the month. 

Without an urgent government bail-out the internal operations of the SABC will start to seize up as the SABC won't be able to pay staff at the end of April without a big cash injection from somewhere. The SABC already abruptly stopped and is no longer able to pay all TV producers and its content and service suppliers.

The latest SABC bail-out could be in the form of any of - or a combination of - another government-guaranteed bank loan like in 2009 for its previous bail-out, an emergency credit extension or even a massive government grant

The new minister of communications, Ayanda Dlodo confirmed that she met with treasury and the new minister of finance on Wednesday to "sort out issues around the financial status of the SABC and there are processes that we've decided upon that will be implemented soonest".

In 2009, after severe mismanagement, maladministration and corruption, the SABC came to the brink of financial collapse and was only rescued in the form of a government-guaranteed bank loan from Nedbank of R1.4 billion.

Last month SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago called the 2009 bail-out "not a bail-out".

"We have never asked for any bail-out ever, ever since I was here. People keep on saying SABC got a bail-out and I don't know where they're getting it from. What we asked at the time in 2009 was a government-guarantee. And what that meant is that we were going out to the markets, to the banks to loan the money."

Kaizer Kganyago failed to mention that the SABC is such a high-risk organisation for lenders that the SABC on its own is unable to get emergency credit without a government-backed guarantee.

That makes it a bail-out since the South African government - not the SABC - becomes responsible for carrying the risk of default, with a cash injection that the SABC couldn't and still can't secure on its own.

Last month when Kaizer Kganyago was asked about suppliers not being paid he said "we have not reached a stage like that".

"We are able to fulfill all our commitments in terms of payment of staff, in terms of payment that we owe and so on. We are doing that on a month to month basis. We don't have a crisis."

Now the wheels have once again come off the crumbling South African public broadcaster with urgent intervention that is needed to save it from imminent collapse. Meanwhile just 22 executives at the SABC are paid R43 million per year.

The SABC's latest worsening financial crisis comes after scathing testimony in late December 2016 and earlier this year from current and former SABC staffers, executives and board members in an ad hoc parliamentary investigation into the chaos, maladministration and corruption at the SABC.

SABC executives first revealed in July 2016 that the SABC's cash is fast running out and that a dramatic bail-out of R1.5 billion is once again needed - something that the SABC, despite being in a dire financial position, denied.

With ongoing plummeting SABC TV viewership and radio listenership, the SABC acting CEO James Aguma repeatedly kept saying - as recently as February this year in parliament - that there isn't a cash problem and that the SABC's finances are stable and satisfactory.

Now the SABC, on the brink of financial collapse, is dealing with the disastrous fall-out from a litany of unilateral decisions and decrees made by its famously matricless former controversial chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng like abruptly upping local content quotas to 90% for radio airplay in May 2016 and 80% for the SABC3 TV channel in July 2016.

Under Hlaudi Motsoeneng's disastrous SABC rule, a barrage of  top executives were fired and exited the broadcaster that continues to be besieged by ongoing court cases and hearings at the CCMA.

The SABC also had the broadcasting regulator overturn a shocking self-imposed censorship decision by the SABC's news division during which several journalists who opposed the decision were first fired, and then ordered to be reinstated by the courts.


'Urgent to get the SABC afloat financially'
On Thursday the new minister of communications, Ayanda Dlodlo on SABC2's Morning Live who admitted that "my expertise is in other areas" and not in broadcasting, said she doesn't want to blame Hlaudi Motsoeneng for the SABC's chaos and financial meltdown and that she doesn't know if he's still being paid and employed by the SABC.

"I don't even want to put the problem on one individual, or one set of a leadership team as being the only problem or the problem. I'd want to be a little more focused on the broader picture than looking at individuals. How does the system in itself work."

Ayanda Dlodo said she met with the new minister of finance on Wednesday to "sort out issues around the financial status of the SABC and there are processes that we've decided upon that will be implemented soonest".

Ayanda Dlodlo said the most important thing for her is "getting the SABC afloat financially, ensuring that the SABC board is fully functional, but also ensuring that the acting positions are done away with. People must go back to their positions. People must start working."

Ayanda Dlodlo called the situation over the SABC once again not paying TV producers and service providers just like in 2009 when it came to the brink of financial collapse "extremely worrying".


Fears of job losses
"The SABC's dire financial situation has sparked legitimate fears across the television industry of a repeat of the SABC's 2009 financial meltdown which saw many companies close and numerous jobs lost," says the public pressure group SOS Coalition in a press statement.

It comes after the SABC last month suddenly warned of possible SABC staff retrenchments in a statement.

"The SABC's failure to meet its contractual obligations not only places the industry in crisis but also puts thousands of livelihoods at risk in a time of high unemployment".

The SOS Coalition says its wants the new minister of communications, Ayanda Dlodlo and the new SABC interim board to prioritise the "SABC's immediate financial crisis to ensure the payment of SABC staff salaries and the payment of independent producers".

"Meet with independent producers as soon as possible to work out a joint way forward to ensure payments are made".

East Coast Radio presenter and broadcasting expert Terence Pillay this week said the SABC got itself into dire financial straits due to "mass nepotism, mass corruption, and the allocating of massive budgets to friends for the making of terrible television".

"Of course the details are quite complicated but in a nutshell the once revered broadcaster with a great name turned into nothing but a paper-pushing post office of sorts."

"Now they finally seem to have grounded to a halt, and all independent TV producers can hope for is that it's not completely dead."

SOS Coalition: In financial meltdown and producers unpaid, SABC's 'infamous 90% local content decree' has left those meant to benefit with even less than what they started with.

With the beleaguered SABC in financial meltdown and producers and in-house service providers once again not being paid as the last of its cash is fast running out, the public broadcaster infamous 90% local content decree has left those meant to benefit with even less than what they started with.

So says the South African public pressure group SOS Coalition that supports better and responsible public broadcasting in the country about the cash-crumbling SABC that is once again fast approaching a financial cliff similar to 2009 when the SABC came to the brink of financial collapse.

The SABC was only saved through a government bail-out when the South African government was forced to act as a guarantor for a R1.4 billion SABC loan from Nedbank.

With the SABC running on empty and teetering on the brink of financial collapse as advertisers, viewers and listeners continue to flee, parliament's standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) has revealed that just 22 SABC executives at the SABC earn R43 million per year. Of these, 15 executives take home more than R2 million per year.

The SABC's dire cash flow situation became known in July 2016 after executives warned that the public broadcaster is rapidly running out of cash. It was already then revealed that the SABC allegedly plans to ask for another R1.5 billion bail-out.

Yet the SABC acting CEO James Aguma repeatedly kept saying - as recently as February this year in parliament - that there isn't a cash problem and that the SABC's finances are stable and satisfactory.

At the end of March the SABC abruptly stopped paying independent producers and some service providers.

SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago in a statement on Wednesday revealed that the new SABC interim board is trying "to deal with the urgent matter of the SABC fulfilling all its financial obligations, including payment of service providers", calling it an "immediate challenge".

"Independent producers woke up to news that they would not be paid and that the SABC has less than R100 million left in its coffers," says the SOS Coalition, saying it is "dismayed by the unabated financial mismanagement at the SABC".

"The SABC's dire financial situation has sparked legitimate fears across the television industry of a repeat of the SABC's 2009 financial meltdown which saw many companies close and numerous jobs lost".

The SOS Coalition says that the controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng as former chief financial officer (COO) and his "now infamous 90% local content decree has seemingly contributed to the financial crisis at the SABC in a way that extends far beyond the problems now confronting independent producers".

"The SABC's failure to meet its contractual obligations not only places the industry in crisis but also puts thousands of livelihoods at risk in a time of high unemployment".

"The SOS Coalition has campaigned for the SABC to increase local content quotas in past years to support the growth of our local creative industries, but this must be done in a reasonable and strategic fashion so as not to threaten the market share and financial viability of the SABC."

"The irresponsible and attention-seeking manner in which these programming changes have been implemented have contributed to the ongoing crisis at the SABC," says the SOS Coalition.

"Today the SABC sits at R150 million in debt to advertisers following the unplanned programming changes which resulted in unflighted advertisements. Hlaudi Motsoeneng's promises to increase rolayty payments to local musicians have also not been implemented".

"The irresponsible and self-aggrandising manner in which the 90% local content quota was driven contributed to the ongoing crisis at the SABC."

"The worst part of the 90%-model is that the very people who were meant to benefit from increasing local content - the creatives, artists and local producers - are now sitting with less than what they started with," says the SOS Coalition.

The SOS Coalition says its wants the new minister of communications, Ayanda Dlodlo and the new SABC interim board to prioritise the "SABC's immediate financial crisis to ensure the payment of SABC staff salaries and the payment of independent producers".

"Meet with independent producers as soon as possible to work out a joint way forward to ensure payments are made".