Treasury orders the South African public broadcaster to take action against corrupt executives, sell off 'non-core assets, scrap non-performing activities and recoup expenditure on content if the SABC wants access to bailout billions.

South Africa's National Treasury has ordered the beleaguered South African public broadcaster to take action against former corrupt executives like CEO James Aguma, COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng and even the former communications minister Faith Muthambi before Treasury would give the SABC access to the billions in another bailout the broadcaster is urgently seeking.

The SABC has also been ordered to sell off "non-core" assets, scrap underperforming operations and to recoup expenditure on content.

The Sunday Times on Sunday reported that one of the stringent conditions Treasury has imposed on the SABC in order to get money from the government's emergency reserve fund, is to investigate and take action against former executives and others implicated in corruption and mismanagement.

The SABC is in dire need of at least R3.2 billion in the short term and over R6 billion over the long term.

Treasury ordered the SABC to report on what the financially destroyed broadcaster is doing to hold corrupt executives and others to account who mismanaged and ran the SABC into the ground.

It means that James Aguma, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, Sully Motsweni, Thobekile Khumalo, Faith Muthambi and others could face possible civil and criminal legal action from the SABC.

South Africa's National Assembly in parliament this week approved the Appropriation Bill of Tito Mboweni, minister of finance, allowing for the South African government's contingency reserve funding to be used to give another bailout to collapsed state-owned entities like Eskom, South African Airways (SAA) and the SABC.

It's however not clear when the SABC will actually receive any bailout money, or how much it will be.

Earlier in July Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, the current minister of finance, lied to the South African public and the country's TV and broadcasting industry and said that the SABC would receive "interim financial relief from Treasury within 10 days", with the balance of the bailout request 45 days after that.

This didn't happen.

Earlier this week Treasury revealed in parliament that it ordered the SABC by letter in April 2019 to meet 11 conditions before it can access the R3.2 billion bailout money it asked for, Dondo Mogajane, Treasury director-general, said on Wednesday in parliament.

These conditions he said "relates to getting the SABC in order so that it can sustain itself financially".

Other conditions imposed on the SABC by Treasury before it can get bailout money include the SABC identifying which "non-core" assets it has that can be sold off and when this can happen, as well as internal revenue-raising plans.

Other conditions are that the SABC has to identify and scrap non-performing activities and remove non-core operations, that the SABC must maximise advertising opportunities and advertising revenue, and that the SABC must somehow get a return on the investment on the expenditure on content.

South Gauteng High Court sets aside SABC's controversial R50 million contract with Vision View Productions for new studio; Special Investigating Unit (SIU) now going after former SABC CEO James Aguma for damages.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has announced that it has successfully investigated, reviewed and got the South Gauteng High Court to set aside the controversial R50 million contract irregularly entered into between the SABC and Vision View Productions for the refurbishment of studios.

The cancelling of the controversial contract as part of this past Friday's court judgment is part of the ongoing process of rooting out the rot of procurement irregularities, maladministration, irregular expenditure and corruption at the beleagued South African public broadcaster.

The SIU is also busy recovering damages totaling over R62 million in another irregular contract between the SABC and Lornavision that was set aside in May 2018.

The SIU is also going after damages from the former SABC CEO James Aguma.

On Friday the Competition Commission also ruled that the controversial TV channels carriage agreement between the SABC and Naspers' pay-TV arm MultiChoice, signed in 2013, constitutes a notifiable merger and should be declared by MultiChoice and the SABC as such.

Special Investigating Unit (SIU) issues a summons against SABC's former controversial COO, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, liable to pay back a staggering R21 million to the public broadcaster.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has issued a summons against the former controversial and famously matricless SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng for more than R21 million that he owes the public broadcaster and has to pay back, says the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party's member of parliament, Phumzile Van Damme.

The R21 million includes the staggering R11.4 million bonus - called a "success fee" - the SABC paid Hlaudi Motsoeneng and is MultiChoice money that was paid to him through the SABC for the controversial SABC and DStv channels deal to provide SABC Encore and SABC News to MultiChoice's satellite pay-TV platform.

The R21 million also includes another R10.5 million payable to the SABC related to irregular SABC appointments, as well as the firing of staff.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng caused horrific damage at the SABC on all levels during his executive tenure, plunging the SABC into a financial crisis as credibility, staff morale, governance, pay control, commissioning and management on every level at the SABC over the past 3 years took a massive blow.

"It is to be welcomed that action against Hlaudi Motsoeneng continues," says Phumzile Van Damme.

"It cannot be that individuals like Hlaudi Motsoeneng loot public institutions, resign or are dismissed and there is no further action. All stolen money must be returned to the public purse. We therefore welcome the SIU’s action in this regard."

Phumzile Van Damme says that the SIU is investigating 8 contracts that were identified as "dodgy" during the SABC ad-hoc inquiry, including the "questionable R460 million contract with MultiChoice".

"Hlaudi Motsoeneng is however not the only person implicated in the SABC ad hoc inquiry report. Compromised individuals such as James Aguma [former SABC acting CEO] and especially former minister of communications, Faith Muthambi, must also be prosecuted for any wrongdoing".

The SIU will hand over the interim presidential report on its investigations into these dodgy SABC and MultiChoice contracts to the Office of the President on 31 May.

Possible criminal charges after parliament reports finds Faith Muthambi, James Aguma, Ben Ngubane, Mbulaheni Maguvhe allegedly lied in SABC inquiry.

Possible criminal charges could be coming for minister Faith Muthambi, James Aguma, Ben Ngubane, Mbulaheni Maguvhe and former SABC company secretary Theresa Geldenhuys who allegedly lied during the SABC inquiry by parlement.

A parliamentary report has found that these 5 witnesses in parliament's SABC inquiry into maladministration, corruption, and mismanagement at the troubled South African Broadcasting Corporation may have deliberately misled the South African parliament's ad hoc committee that investigated the SABC rot.

The National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete finally quietly tabled the report that she has kept hidden for months amidst calls for it to be made public who parliament found may have lied during the inquiry.

Faith Muthambi, then the minister of communications - now the public service and administration minister - could face a charge of contempt and abuse of parliamentary privilege that is punishable by a fine or a prison term not exceeding 12 months or both.

The same goes for the other 4 with the controversial Ben Ngubane and Mbulaheni Maguvhe who served as former SABC board members and James Aguma who quit as acting SABC CEO.

The report by parliament's legal services division found that Faith Muthambi's testimony regarding the appointment of the controversial and now fired executive Hlaudi Motsoeneng "does not align with the content of minutes of the SABC board meetings".

"To this end the testimony proffered by the then-minister of communications could be seen as an attempt to misled the enquiry."

The report found that the controversial Mbulaheni Maguvhe likely misled parliament when he claimed ignorance of the shocking labour dispute involving the so-called "SABC8" SABC News journalists who were fired after they voiced concern over the Hlaudi Motsoeneng's abruptly introduced SABC News censorship policy.

The parliamentary report found that the controversial Ben Ngubane misled parliament in his testimony on the massive amounts the SABC had been paying to produce The New Age Breakfast Briefings broadcast on SABC2's Morning Live.

"The testimony offered by Ben Ngubane could be seen as an attempt to mislead the inquiry and that false information was presented to the inquiry," parliament's report states.

The parliamentary report found that the controversial and now gone James Aguma might have provided the inquiry with an email which "purports to lack authenticity as being that generated by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC)."

"In order to establish this fact conclusively, further investigation needs to be undertaken to ascertain whether the email was generated by the CIPC".

The parliamentary report found that Theresa Geldenhuys refused to provide parliament's ad hoc committee with requested documents, citing that they were "commercially sensitive" - only for the documents to be provided later, and being proven to not be commercially sensitive. 

Theresa Geldenhuys also failed "to inform the committee that she was no longer the company secretary which could be considered as an attempt to mislead the inquiry".

Parliament's legal services division recommended that the 5 people be investigated for misleading parliament.

In a statement, Phumzile van Damme, a member of parliament (MP) of the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party, says that "now that the speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete has finally tabled the report from parliament's legal services unit identifying those who misled or lied to the SABC ad hoc committee, she must ensure that criminal charges are laid against them."

"The recommendation in the report of the ad hoc committee on the SABC inquiry was that parliament itself lay charges against the individuals who misled the committee."

"Although the DA welcomes the tabling of this report, the reality is that it is almost 12 weeks overdue and has been sitting on the speaker's desk since 5 June."

SABC appoints Nomsa Philiso as latest acting CEO; SABC TV division again rudderless as both top two positions are vacant.

The out-of-cash SABC that has been hammering top executives for the past year and a half and that continues to lose top executives, rushed to appoint the SABC's TV boss, Nomsa Philiso as the latest new acting SABC CEO after James Aguma, embroiled in scandals, abruptly quit last week.

Thabile Dlamini has been appointed as the latest acting chief financial officer (CFO) at the beleaguered South African public broadcaster, replacing Audrey Raphela who was also removed under a cloud as she's implicated in several dubious multi-million contract deals of the SABC.

Bessie Tugwana will remain on as acting chief operating officer (COO) at the SABC in the post left vacant by the controversial and now fired, famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

The chairperson of the SABC's interim board, Khanyisile Kweyama signed the three acting positions to be in effect until 12 October 2017.

It is just the latest top level executives moves at the SABC, where never-ending high-ranking executive changes are indicative of not just the unstable and ongoing palace intrigue that continues to grip and morbidly fascinates South Africa's TV industry, but of how really bad and gutted the internal management of the public broadcaster has become.

Nomsa Philiso became the SABC's TV boss in August 2016 but her move to acting SABC CEO once again leaves South Africa's TV industry fearful and wondering about what's happening at the embattled public broadcaster that's struggling to pay local South African producers.

The SABC didn't announce an acting replacement and acting executive for the SABC's role of group executive for television - the SABC's highest TV executive position - with Nomsa Philiso shifting to the acting CEO position.

Trying to claw back from ongoing turmoil and making the situation at the SABC's TV division even more dire to outside observers, is the fact that Maijang Sam Mpherwane will finally be officially gone at the end of this week as SABC TV's number two executive in charge in the position of general manager for SABC television.

What it means is that the SABC's TV division, from August, will have no specific executives as permanent appointments in the top two executive positions in its television division - extremely important and crucial positions that look after and supervise all TV matters at the public broadcaster.

SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago didn't issue any public press statement about the new acting appointments but the SABC told its staffer "citizens" in an internal email that "staff members are encouraged to support the executive directors in their roles in taking the organisation to greater heights. We wish them all the best during their tenure".

BREAKING. SABC finally fires controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng after former COO found guilty of causing irreparable damage to public broadcaster.

The SABC has fired the guilty Hlaudi Motsoeneng after a disciplinary hearing found the former chief operating officer (COO) of the beleaguered South African public broadcaster guilty on all charges, including bringing the SABC into disrepute and causing irreparable damage to the SABC.

The SABC on Monday morning called another hastily arranged press conference set for 15:00 on Monday afternoon that eventually started at 15:42 - late as all SABC press briefings the past year and a half.

Advocate Nazeer Cassim who chaired the disciplinary hearing, handed his judgment to the SABC on Monday morning.

SABC chairperson Khanyisile Kweyama at Monday afternoon's press conference that was carried as a live broadcast on eNCA (DStv 403), SABC News (DStv 404) and ANN7 (DStv 405), addressed and took some questions from a group of journalists from various media outlets as well as several SABC journalists.

Some more SABC News journalists and staffers stood at the wall, intently listening to everything being said.

In all, less media and press attended the hastily called presser than in the past.

During the press conference Khanyisile Kweyama revealed and confirmed that Hlaudi Motsoeneng's unilaterally imposed 90% content quota directly, and negatively impacted the SABC's revenue.

She revealed that the SABC has canned the controversial Gupta-owned The New Age Breakfast Briefings broadcast on SABC2 with the one this past Friday, 9 June that was the last one.

She said that the last of the controversial The New Age Breakfast briefings broadcast on SABC2 during Morning Live was held on Friday and that the SABC is working to extract itself from the contract.

On Hlaudi Motsoeneng's imposed SABC News censorship and ban on using visuals on SABC TV News bulletins or live coverage of destruction of property she said that " the ban on the use of violent visuals have been rescinded. Journalists may use footage as they see fit".

On the controversial 90% local content quota that decimated SABC radio listenership and TV viewership, especially SABC3, and called "90 10" [ninety-ten], Khanyilise Kweyama said "the SABC interim board is not anti-transformation".

"90/10 was a bit drastic. 90/10 has been a source of revenue loss if implemented across all [SABC] platform. There are certain channels that are quite high that have achieved 80%, and we are therefore not going to say to those channels regress to 50%".

"When they have achieved and they are breaking even, and they are making the profits that are necessary, we will leave them alone," said Khanyilise Kweyama.


Hlaudi Motsoeneng fired
On Hlaudi Motsoeneng's firing, Khanyilise Kweyama said the SABC had charges him with misconduct and of breaking the rules of his employment contract.

"Nazeer Cassim gave us feedback this morning and he has recommended, which the board has accepted, that Hlaudi Motsoeneng be dismissed from the SABC. The SABC interim board has accepted those recommendations and we have communicated with Hlaudi Motsoeneng his dismissal from the SABC."

"I will not go into the details for the notice period and all those as those are people's files that are specific."


Suspension of James Aguma
On the suspension of James Aguma also undergoing a disciplinary hearing process and who was acting SABC CEO, Khanyilise Kweyama said "I will not comment on James Aguma as we are still in a process. We have charged, the process is underway."


SABC's 'infamous MultiChoice deal'
An SABC journalist asked Khanyilise Kweyama about "the infamous MultiChoice deal" and whether the SABC is for termination or renegotiation.

The SABC is supplying MultiChoice with the SABC News (DStv 404) and SABC Encore (DStv 156) rerun library channels for the DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

"We are in conversations with MultiChoice on that contract. That contract starts being renegotiated 18 months ahead of its expiry period which is around now."

"At this stage I cannot comment on whether we will renew, review, adjust, but we have started the negotiations.

"The SABC archives were not sold to MultiChoice. A tape a day goes to MultiChoice," said Khanyilise Kweyama.

"If there are any grey areas, as an interim SABC board, as we enter into this negotiating phase, we will pick those out, and that will also be a determining factor as to whether we continue with that contract, or adjust, review, or start from scratch."


SABC's new government bailout of billions
"I won't say the amount," said Khanyilise Kweyama when asked about the cash-strapped SABC's latest request for a government bailout of likely billions of rand to save the SABC from the brink of financial collapse.

"The latest is that we are at a stage where the two ministers - minister of communications and minister of finance - are discussing the bailout".


SABC not paying producers but able to pay staff
"We have publicly said that the financial situation of the SABC is in a bad state," said Khanyilise Kweyama, who said SABC staffers are being paid.

She however said nothing about producers supplying content to the SABC who are not being paid for months now.

"The fact that we are applying for a bailout says that the situation is dire."

"On the salaries, we have paid salaries in March. We did pay salaries in April. We did pay salaries in May. Are we tightening the belt? Are we sometimes robbing Peter to pay Paul? Yes, we are sometimes doing that."

"But at no stage in the past 3 months have salaries of staff been in jeopardy," said Khanyilise Kweyama.

"The only people who haven't been paid are the board."

"We are in the red but we don manage by ensuring the board is always on top of everything."

"We do still need to be rescued."

MultiChoice: No comment after SABC's acting CEO James Aguma says it wants DStv forced to collect TV licence fees on behalf of the SABC.

MultiChoice says it has no comment after acting SABC CEO James Aguma shocked last week when he told parliament that the SABC wants DStv to be forced to collect TV licence fees on behalf of the public broadcaster.

The financially underwater SABC keeps sinking and is awaiting yet another multi-mullion rand government bailout similar to the R1.47 billion government guaranteed Nedbank loan it got in 2009 when it came to the brink of financial collapse.

With only about a third of SABC TV licence holders actually paying their licence fees and the SABC projecting TV licence revenues to fall another 8% this year due to inept collecting operations, the embattled South African public broadcaster is looking at inventive ways to try and boost this income stream.

James Aguma told parliament's portfolio committee on communications last week that it wants South Africa's Broadcasting Act changed and wants commercial broadcasters "compelled" to "make sure that they can collect TV licences on behalf of the SABC".

It's not clear why the SABC as a public broadcaster wants private companies to collect its income.

SABC interim board member John Matisonn told parliament that the public broadcaster is looking at strategies to improve overall SABC TV licence fee collection.

"There are other strategies, and the one we mention is probably not the right time to go further, is the question of what to do with people who buy a TV set just for DStv or something else. There's a couple of strategies but I'm not sure this is the moment to explain them yet."

MultiChoice in response to a media enquiry says "MultiChoice has noted the remarks attributed to the acting group CEO of the SABC. We have no comment at this stage".

While MultiChoice doesn't have any comment at this stage, the SABC came up with the same plan in 2009 when the public broadcaster last came to the brink of collapse, saying it wanted to get MultiChoice's subscriber information to see who has a DStv subscription but not a valid SABC TV licence.

In July 2009 MultiChoice's then COO, Collins Khumalo told me the SABC should keep its hands off DStv subscribers' information and find other ways to fix its financial mess.

"We will never give our clients' information to anyone," MultiChoice said at the time.

"As a business we don't sell our database to anyone. We also don't give our database information to anyone. Our clients come to us and trust us with their information. We will resist attempts if we are expected to make that information available," MultiChoice said in 2009.

"Yes, the SABC is facing challenges to generate more income, but we don't believe we are the solution to their problems. I believe they can come up with other, more creative ways to solve their problems and improve their income," MultiChoice said at the time.

While the SABC has 146 staffers in its SABC TV licence fee division, the broadcaster outsourced the work to Lorna Vision that failed by more than 50% in the past year to meet its set target.

The SABC interim board told parliament it will be cancelling the contract as soon as possible.

The struggling SABC is deep in the red: After James Aguma in his previous parliamentary appearance in March said the SABC's finances are stable, he now admitted the broadcaster is in a financial crisis.

The SABC 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.

SABC CEO James Aguma shocks parliament: Wants Broadcasting Act changed so people require a SABC TV licence for more devices like computers, wants DStv to collect fees, wants news sponsored.

SABC acting CEO James Aguma shocked on Wednesday by telling parliament the SABC wants the Broadcasting Act changed to include more viewing devices so that more people need a SABC TV licence, for instance for computers, cellphones and tablets.

James Aguma wants DStv forced to collect SABC TV licence fees on behalf of the SABC. James Aguma also wants the SABC's news commercially sponsored.

James Aguma, SABC executives and the SABC's new interim board appeared before parliament's portfolio committee on communications to brief members of parliament about the latest situation at the crisis-riddled public broadcaster and its revised corporate plan.

James Aguma said the SABC is budgeting for lower revenue from SABC TV licences this year, but that the SABC wants to see changes made to the Broadcasting Act to make it mandatory for people to pay a TV licence for more devices they view content on.

James Aguma in parliament said the SABC wants "changes to the Broadcasting Act to increase revenue from television licences. Here we're saying the majority of non-payers of TV licences may be brought into the net if we can change the Broadcasting Act due to two things".

"One to define what a receiving device is - a TV - because now you can view content on different platforms. Yet the Act is only talking to a limited devices. So we need to do that."

"Also probably compelling some of the commercial broadcasters to make sure that they can collect TV licences on behalf of the SABC."

James Aguma told parliament that if the Broadcasting Act is changed, it would broaden the collection base for SABC TV licences which in turn would help to increase the potential revenue the public broadcaster could collect from this income stream.

Currently people are required to pay a TV licence for a device that can receive a TV signal. 

As video-on-demand (VOD), digital broadcasting and video content channeled through other device however grows, millions more South Africans are watching TV content on computers, laptops, cellphones, tablets and other devices.

"We also want a review of the Icasa regulations for sponsorship of news," said James Aguma, telling parliament the SABC that has to provide impartial, unbiased and non-commercial news, wants commercial sponsorship of news programming that is currently not allowed under broadcasting regulations.

James Aguma first told parliament about this in March 2017 and now, two months later, mentioned the idea again.

James Aguma told parliament the SABC spent R649 million the past three years on broadcasting news and gets R100 million per year from MultiChoice for its SABC News (DStv 404) channel.

"We don't get any revenue from that [news]. So we're saying, if there are changes to this, then probably we can close the gap between the cost from broadcasting news and the revenue that is limited to what we get from MultiChoice."

"We want to find inventive ways of collecting SABC TV licence revenues, one of which is changing the Broadcasting Act to assist us in that regard".

'The shadows are still around here': Here's 25 new SABC shockers as the broadcaster's staffers make astounding revelations about the chaos inside the crumbling SA public broadcaster.

SABC staffers venting their frustrations and problems have made shocking new revelations about mismanagement, maladministration and the chaotic situation inside the out-of-cash and crumbling South African public broadcaster.

SABC staffers from across the various divisions within the public broadcaster that's hovering on the brink of financial collapse, publicly voiced their concerns and fears, anger and frustration about an unbelievable array of shocking things that's gone haywire at the SABC.

SABC workers inside a jam-packed SABC auditorium, including tele-linked in provincial personnel, spoke up in front of the new SABC interim board and parliament's portfolio committee on communications that visited the SABC.

Here's just 25 of the most shocking things they said:

■ SABC TV licence staffer: "People are too afraid to address this topic. They're too afraid. The TV licence department was going to strike. Hlaudi Motsoeneng and James Aguma came in and they offered us a contract and we were supposed to be permanent. But its obvious that it's not going to happen. It continues with temp, temp, temp."


■ Nelspruit staffer: "Ligwalagwala FM doesn't have a station manager because he was suspended a year ago. We don't know what's happening with that. Then there is an open space that the SABC is paying for, but it's not used. It's just empty. That's wasteful expenditure."


■ Magdaleen Kruger, RSG station manager: "We used to have a public broadcasting division and commercial division. A few month ago it was changed to fall under corporate affairs. Radio is now reporting to corporate affairs.We don't have general managers anymore. There's no decision making."

"At the moment the SABC is the only public broadcaster in the world sitting with this skewed, non-structure for radio."


■ Magdaleen Kruger, RSG station manager: "We are in austerity at the SABC. If we need a mic we can't order it. But at the same time a R10.2 million plan was approved to pay R50 000 each to legends in the music industry. That R10.2 million was not budgeted for, we don't know who approved it."


■ Polokwane staffer: "There is a moratorium on hiring of people at SABC. Limpopo doesn't have a provincial editor for news and current affairs and that creates a lot of instability."


■ Dumile Mateza, TV news presenter: "SABC News (DStv 404) 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."

"Whenever there's a funeral it goes on this channel, whenever there's a rally it goes on this channel. The funerals, I actually said to somebody, probably they must go to Avbob, they can sponsor these funerals."

"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."

"Some of us, we're three in a team. We don't even have an executive producer. We do all the executive producing work but we don't get paid for it."


■ Poobie Pillay, ad exec: "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."

"I love the SABC. I've always dreamt of working here. It makes me sad to see that we're in financial distress because some people didn't take the time to go and do their research to make sure that this organisation can pay its employees."

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


■ Carmen Schnider, manager SABC change management department: "I was asked to come here two years ago and to help with change. I'm sorry to say 90% of the changes I'm not involved in at all, nor is my team."

"I'm afraid to say that most of the changes are done somewhere, bekonkeld in an office without change management involved. There's policies being changed, there's policies being flouted and change management isn't involved at all. It is so sad."


■ Alet, current affairs producer: "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's 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?"


■ Nigel Bird, commissioning editor: "The concern is for us the flouting of procurement processes."

"Commissioning editors are tasked with procuring, but somebody come from wayside and will tell you 'This is what you will be doing'. He said: "the SABC is hemorrhaging money."


■ Thandeka Gqubule, economics editor: "We're the victim of inept, ignorant management."

"We are a victim of corrupt management."

"We are politically influenced. Political appointments, political everything. We want a multi-stakeholder board that's representative of the South African public that is drawn from labour, churches, unions and all members of our society. You can see how painful the consequences of political meddling and cadre deployment are. They wreck lives."

"The shadows are still around here. A slew of significant decisions have been made in the last three months: Positions moved around, people moved around, enormously important financial decisions. On what authority have these decisions been made?"

"That MultiChoice contract must go. It wasn't proper, it was illegal and it delays us from going digital."

■ David Webb, independent contract worker: "The over 5 000 employees that are here at the SABC, the majority share, somewhat over 3 000 are independent contractors."

"Is it right for freelancers to be contracted year after year, some employees for up to 20 years, on a year to year contract? The department of labour stated to us that something is not right with the issuing of these contracts".


■ SABC staffer: "This place is shrouded in secrecy. We're being threatened with retrenchment. Yet within the SABC the place is filled with consultants duplicating functions. Yet people are being threatened with being fired."


■ Ukhozi FM marketing executive in Durban: "When I went to Wits for four years, studied and got my honours, it wasn't to date anyone. I studied hard for myself to get better opportunities. It is always about the wrong people, hired at the wrong positions."


■ Lotus FM producer in Durban: "The 90% local content issue, we're facing financial crisis. Lotus FM has been affected drastically in terms of revenue and listenership figures. SABC interim board should try to bring back credibility to the SABC's radio station and TV channels".


■ Bloemfontein staffer: "We at provinces are not properly resourced."


■ Kimberley staffer: "The communication from the SABC as a broadcaster is very poor. The Northern Cape province, where we are, the accommodation is not conducive."


■ Polokwane staffer: "The SABC has lost millions of rands in the Landmark ad booking system, and no-one is looking at who introduced this monster that is costing the SABC so much money."


■ Polokwane staffer: "In Limpopo out of the blue it was announced by then-COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng that Phalaphala FM would move to Thohoyandou without consultation with staff."

"When we asked the acting GE of corporate affairs and raised issues about technical glitches in Thohoyandou to say that building isn't ready to be occupied from, he said you're not going to stop Hlaudi's vision".


■ Polokwane staffer: "The technology in Limpopo is very, very pathetic. We asked for technology to just record something. We have a very old machine. For you to go out and record content outside, it's a nightmare."


■ Polokwane staffer: "I'm wondering if James Aguma, acting SABC CEO isn't part of the problems we are talking about. James Aguma still consults the former COO and he runs to Hlaudi's house after work. That tells us that we're still being run by Hlaudi from the grave".


■ IT website staffer: "In February we had a meeting with our manager where she told us that there's a new company that has been contracted to come and develop 7 websites for the SABC. The company is called Infonomix."

"When we asked if we still have jobs, nobody is able to respond to that. Our unions have tried to ask to find out what is going to happen to us since this company has been contracted for 5 years, and nobody is responding to those questions."


■ Nonnie Jacobs, SABC Sport managing editor: "My worst victimisation is to spend sleepless nights, concerned as to whether I'm going to have a salary."

"As SABC Sport, we need sporting rights. If we don't have rights, are we still a department?"


■ Victor, ABC Sport staffer: "SABC Sport is in ICU. The wheels fell off when we lost the rights. We have a management that thrives on victimisation, not planning, no research."

"Business plans are done last minute, we lost sponsorships, we lose advertisers. Other departments have to be pointed a finger on over our inept handling of responsibility."

"We are not making money for SABC anymore. We are draining money out of SABC. We have a marketing department that we don't know what they're doing."


■ SABC staffer: "Are we going to be retrenched or not? It's a very simple question. Because hearing things in the corridors is unacceptable. And you all know, the SABC, where there's smoke there's fire. Is there money or is there no money? We should not be hearing it from a press release in the media."

SABC 'putting thousands of livelihoods at risk' with failure to pay its biggest shows, as public broadcaster again hovers on the brink of financial collapse.

The SABC racing to the brink of financial collapse is putting "thousands of livelihoods at risk" as some of the SABC's biggest shows like Uzalo, Muvhango, 7de Laan and others are not getting the money they need to produce the content the SABC needs with actors, presenters and production crews anxious as they wait to be paid.

With ongoing plummeting SABC viewership and listenership to record lows, and with the public broadcaster's cash reserves basically depleted, more information is coming to light about the SABC once again finding itself in the precarious position in 2009.

In 2009 after mismanagement, maladministration, corruption and gross overspending, the South African public broadcaster came to the brink of financial collapse and was only saved through a government bail-out in the form of a government-guaranteed loan of R1,4 billion from Nedbank.

Although the public broadcaster was pulled back from the brink, the SABC inflicted massive damage on South Africa's TV industry and decimated independent producers with some who were forced to sell their houses and cars.

Now the SABC is once again in a dramatic cash-crunch months after the controversial former chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng ordered a dramatic increase in local radio airplay on the SABC airwaves and announced his plan for an abrupt increase in local content on SABC TV channels, starting with 80% on SABC3.

SABC executives in July 2016 already raised the alarm that the SABC will be running out of money within months, something the SABC at the time denied. Last month acting SABC CEO James Aguma told parliament that the SABC's finances are stable.

In reality the SABC at the end of this month will have used up the last of its cash reserves.

After the SABC abruptly failed to pay all of its service providers, production companies and creditors at the end of March, the SABC's acting chief financial officer (CFO) Audrey Raphela, in a hurried letter told service providers and producers that "you will be contacted individually by your SABC counterparts to clarify how our obligation to you will be honoured by no later than the week ending of 7 April".

The Daily Sun now reports that SABC1's most watched show, Uzalo, only received partial payment. SABC2's Muvhango and 7de Laan were reportedly not paid and are waiting for their money. It's the same with SABC3's Isidingo that the SABC also allegedly failed didn't pay.

The SABC as a public broadcaster doesn't want to publicly comment about who didn't get paid at the end of March, with SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago that told The Daily Sun "we will not engage in the public domain with the people that we work with. That's why we have decided to engage them directly."

According to insiders several SABC shows ranging from SABC1's Selimathunzi to SABC3's Top Billing have allegedly not been paid, as scores of production crews, actors and presenters are waiting on their money.

The Independent Producers' Organisation (IPO) representing hundreds of producers and production companies in a statement to TVwithThinus says it is alarmed over the SABC's latest payment failure.

"These payments are generally for work that has already been delivered or is in the process of being made. These payments go towards paying suppliers including actors, directors, technical crew, caterers, equipment suppliers, car hire companies and fuel. These are the people who work 12 hour days to bring some of the country's favourite programmes to life".

"The failure of the SABC to pay not only places the industry in crisis, but also puts thousands of livelihoods, bond and loan repayments, school fees and living expenses at risk. The impact on the many thousands of lives is dire," says the IPO.

The IPO says the dire situation the SABC is once again finding itself in, is negatively affecting "the general industry, including actors and crew".

Tell-tale signs of the current cash-crunch was foreshadowed in October 2016 when the SABC's failure to sign new contracts in time saw Muvhango's executive producer forced to take out a bank loan to try and pay cast and crew while 7de Laan warned actors and crew in a shocking note that they won't be paid.

Later that month the SABC rushed to finally sign new contracts. By delaying signing contracts the SABC was able to keep more money in the bank for longer.

In November 2016, despite a signed contract for a third season that was months into production, the SABC suddenly pulled the plug on SABC3's High Rollers, ordering it off the air within 30 days and suddenly leaving hundreds of crew and actors without jobs.

Meanwhile pressure is mounting as South Africa's treasury and the new minister of communications Ayanda Dlodlo will have to decide what form the possible latest government bail-out of the SABC will take.

Without a massive cash injection within weeks, the cash-strapped SABC's operations will start to seize up from the end of the month.

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".

SABC acting CEO James Aguma tells parliament that the SABC wants its news sponsored; warns of 'serious problem' if news can't find sponsor.

The SABC's acting CEO James Aguma says the South African public broadcaster wants the news that it broadcast to be sponsored although the SABC is actually prohibited from doing this by the broadcasting regulator.

The SABC as South Africa's public broadcaster is mandated, according to its editorial policy and according to its licence conditions from the broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), to provide news that is fair, balanced and objective and not commercially sponsored.

The SABC own editorial policy states that "we do not allow advertising, commercial, political or personal considerations to influence our editorial considerations" and that the SABC is required to "report news truthfully, accurately and objectively".

"Sponsorship of television news and current affairs has been prohibited by Icasa, and is therefore not allowed by the SABC," states the SABC’s editorial policy.

"Weather forecasts and sports bulletins that form part of TV news bulletins may be sponsored. Any product placement within news and current affairs programmes is strictly forbidden".

James Aguma told parliament's portfolio committee on communications about "the serious problem" if SABC news isn't sponsored, saying that "it implies that we are going to run an operation without funds".

"That explains – and there's been a lot of talk about the SABC MultiChoice channels contract – why SABC News (DStv 404) is funded through a strategic partnership".

"Because it's those funds that we need to cover that [news] operation. The SABC's normal news department is sustainable. What we need to do, is to ensure that the revenue growth and the cost – the growth is higher than the cost," said James Aguma.

"Unfortunately, if 85% of your revenue arises from advertising, then you are open to market forces. And we know that market forces are changing consumption patterns. People are consuming content now on digital."

"Those are some of the reasons why certain contracts were signed because we realised its time now to shift aggressively towards the digital space. And that's something that we prefer to keep, you know, keep under wraps. But the issue is it's a strategic choice because we are seeing a funding gap on trying to sell content on this traditional platforms," he said.

In late December 2016 parliament's ad hoc committee investigating maladministration at the SABC heard several allegations of how the Gupta-owned The New Age wanted to take over the running of the SABC's news operations.

The committee heard allegations of how the SABC is bleeding cash on production costs to run the controversial The New Age sponsored "breakfast briefings" broadcast on Morning Live on the SABC2 and SABC News channels.

The inquiry's final report, adopted last week Tuesday by parliament, found that all of the SABC's "questionable transactions" should be investigated and probed by forensic audit like the SABC MultiChoice deal, and for a review of the feasibility of The New Age breakfast briefings.

SABC facing a new cash crisis as the struggling South African public broadcaster's cash reserves keeps dropping; now far below R650 million threshold.

The SABC is once again facing a calamitous cash crisis, similar to the one in 2009 that brought the SABC to the brink of financial collapse with the broadcaster's cash reserves that fell to a shockingly low R174 million by the end of December 2016.

Business Day on Monday reported about a SABC treasury risk committee report of January 2017 warning that the beleaguered SABC, constantly lurching from crisis to crisis, is once again facing a finance nightmare.

The SABC's money woes became so bad in 2009 that it got a government bail-out in the form of a government-guaranteed Nedbank bank loan of R1.4 billion.

Now SABC insiders are warning that the public broadcaster is once again approaching a depleted cash reserves cliff that could see the struggling South African Broadcasting Corporation again needing yet another possible government bail-out.

According to the SABC's treasury risk report, the SABC is once again delaying payment to some suppliers to keep some cash in the bank for longer. 

The SABC’s liquidity requirement is R650 million per month – the amount of money the SABC is supposed to keep in the kitty as its cash balance in order to remain operational.

By December 2016 this has plunged to just R174 million, with Business Day reporting on the treasury report warning that the SABC could soon be facing a cash deficit of over R1 billion if the public broadcaster's current spending levels continue.

Things like the use of consultants and the former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng's unilaterally implemented plan for 90% local content and 80% local TV content on SABC3 in July 2016 has had a disastrous impact on the SABC – sucking up money in production spending as ratings fell.

As cash went out to pay for productions, viewers and advertisers on the other hand have fled, causing SABC revenues to plummet the past few months.

At the end of February the SABC’s acting CEO James Aguma told parliament that the SABC's financial performance was "satisfactory".

James Aguma revealed the shambles of the SABC's TV licence department that has written off R17.7 billion in outstanding TV licence fees due to its "corrupt database". 

James Aguma also revealed that the SABC has run specific TV licence checks on members of parliament to see which parliamentarians are paying SABC TV licences.

The SABC's latest plan to make its fruitless and wasteful expenditure look less: 'TV shows bought and not shown in time shouldn't be labelled as wasteful'.

The SABC's latest plan to help lessen the billions of rand lost in fruitless and wasteful expenditure is to "reclassify" the TV content that it had bought and wasted because it didn't broadcast it in time, as not being wasteful.

The beleaguered and loss-making SABC, more than any other South African broadcaster like e.tv and M-Net, ends up buying food for the TV fridge that just sits there, rots and ends up as waste that must be thrown away, not scheduled and consumed in time.

The SABC annually racks up massive content losses in this area on its balance sheet, wasting SABC TV licence payers' money by buying programming it doesn't show before the broadcasting licensing right windows expires.

This happens because the SABC wastes money by buying programming that is inappropriate for the audience and channel demographics, because there’s no space on the SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 schedules – or because the content acquisitions hub and schedulers don't make sure that the TV that's bought is broadcast before the "use by" date.

The SABC keeps failing to properly assess and align the public broadcaster's playout needs in terms of scheduled number of hours with what it ends up buying. The written-off glut of TV programming bought and paid for but that that ends up never being shown, is annually classified as part of fruitless and wasteful expenditure – the same as with all broadcasters.

Now the SABC wants to "reclassify" some of this wasted, bought TV content through no longer seeing it as "fruitless and wasteful".

'They throw in other titles that you don't need'

Although all TV broadcasters – public television services and pay-TV operators – all operate under the same playbook, the SABC's acting CEO, James Aguma now wants to shift the blame for fruitless and wasteful expenditure in terms of some programming costs to content distributors and content sellers.

James Aguma, now blaming TV content distributors and content sellers, is taking the same page as the disgraced former SABC chairperson dr Ben Ngubane, who also previously told parliament the SABC can't really be held responsible for all of the TV content it acquires and fails to show in time.

James Aguma told parliament's portfolio committee on communications this week that the SABC is busy reworking how the TV content that the public broadcaster buys and ends up wasting – marked as fruitless and wasteful expenditure on its balance sheet – is seen.

James Aguma, an accountant and auditor from Uganda, told parliament that "a lot of fruitless and wasteful expenditure at the SABC arises from two sources. One is writing off content. You go and buy content, lets say 8 titles."

"But your schedule only allows you to broadcast 3 or 4 programmes – and you actually only want four, but they sell you a package. The parlance in broadcasting is you buy the dog and fleas".

"So we're saying if we do not have space to broadcast that because we only have 3 channels, then inevitably you'll find at year-end you have to write-off that. Because the rights that you have are time-based."

"They [international content distributors] are giving you rights to broadcast something. But you know that you only want four titles. Then they throw in other titles that you don't need. And it's take it or leave it unfortunately in the broadcasting industry."

"So you’ll see that we're continuously showing that as fruitless and wasteful expenditure," said James Aguma.

"But we're having a debate at a principal level whether it strictly meets the definition of fruitless and wasteful. Because it an amount that could have been avoided if reasonable steps were put in place."

Take cows and donkeys

"If somebody says: 'I want 4 cows', and he says 'No, take 3 donkeys, buy it as a package' and you say 'No, I want the 4' and he says 'If you want the cows, take the donkeys' then I don't think those 3 strictly meet the definition of fruitless and wasteful," James Aguma told parliament.

"You may not have gotten value, but what could you have done to avoid in that industry to avoid the buying of the dog and fleas so to speak? So we’re going to adjust that note also in conjunction with the Auditor-General (AG)."

Fanny by Gaslight

While the SABC's James Aguma is correct that TV content acquisitions are sometimes "bundled" – premium programme buys come attached with lower-tiered series and movies, other broadcasters worldwide, as well as e.tv and M-Net in South Africa, are much better at managing, scheduling and working away the flotsam with the fantastic so that it doesn't end up as a liability and content write-off.

For every How I Met Your Mother and Anaconda: Hunt for the Blood Orchid on e.tv that the red letter free-to-air broadcaster actually wanted, there's a Fanny by Gaslight scheduled and burnt off in a near-midnight slot.

It's also not just international content. The SABC also runs rougshod over local content that equally contributes to fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

In December the SABC for instance abruptly ordered an end to the contract of the weekday local prime time drama series High Rollers on SABC3, produced by Rous House Productions.

With months left on the signed contract of the recently ordered third season, the SABC suddenly wanted High Rollers on SABC3 shut down and off the air, citing "changing programming needs".

With the remainder of the contract that must be paid out whether the public broadcaster has anything to show for it or not, the SABC is wasting and essentially paying money to a production company to not deliver local content – episodes that it ordered and wanted just months ago.

As far back as 2013 dr Ben Ngubane warned that content purchasing decisions at the SABC will no longer be made by one executive.

In the past the SABC several times have sent people not skilled or versed in international programming acquisition – and flying business class – to foreign film festivals and content markets where they signed deals and picked up programming wholly unsuitable for the SABC.

SABC CEO James Aguma reveals that the SABC has been running TV licence checks on members of parliament.

The SABC told members of parliament that the public broadcasting had been individually profiling them and has run parliamentarians' names through its "database" to check if they have paid their SABC TV licences.

It’s not clear why the SABC has decided to do a targeted name sweep and conducted a SABC TV licence name and payment check on specifically members of parliament.

Parliament's ad hoc committee has been investigating the beleaguered South African public broadcaster since December last year with current and former SABC executives and former SABC board members who came in for bruising questioning, with a number of shocking revelations of alleged mismanagement that surfaced in the past three months in explosive testimonies.

Parliament's portfolio committee on communications this week also convened again to get updates on the SABC's 2016 first and second quarter performance and expenditure where yet another shockingly bleak picture about the SABC’s financial status emerged.

James Aguma, the SABC's acting CEO, revealed during the sitting of the portfolio committee on communications that "we also took the liberty of trying to run members of parliament here through the database to see how many are paying. And the figures are interesting."

"I will slip a note to the chairperson so that he can be aware of some members here.We just took the liberty," said James Aguma.

He revealed that the SABC had to write off a staggering R17.7 billion in SABC TV licence fees due to a "corrupt" database that was filled with deceased people, people not living in South Africa and others like old grannies for instance owing R15 000, who can't ever be reasonably expected to pay off massive accumulated fees and penalty charges.

James Aguma said "either people were too lazy or too negligent to do that job" when it came to upkeep of a correct SABC TV licence database in previous years and that it prompted the hiring of consultants and the massive write-off.