Another R3,2-billion in public funding has been allocated to the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, minister of communications and digital technologies, says R2,1-billion will be transferred to the public broadcaster on Monday (7 October 2019), with remaining R1,1-billion will be transferred once the public broadcaster fully meets three outstanding conditions or firmly demonstrates evidence to fully comply.
She explains that the Department of Communications (DoC) assisted the SABC to obtain the requisite funding allocation through submitting required motivations to National Treasury and enlisting the services of the Government Technical Advisory Centre to help bolster its turnaround plan.
National Treasury attached eight preconditions to the funding allocation, of which the SABC has fully met five, partially met two, and one has not been met, she says.
According to Ndabeni-Abrhams, the preconditions that are fully met are:
* Determine immediate cash requirements supported by detailed cash flow projections for the next 12 to 18 months;
* Submit a list of identified initiatives for revenue enhancement and costs-cutting initiatives;
* Conduct a thorough investigation into what caused the financial collapse of the SABC and why previous turnaround plans have failed to be successfully implemented;
* Provide an update of how the entity is dealing with the people implicated in the investigation report; and
* Develop a turnaround plan incorporating measures to prevent the reoccurrence of the identified factors. This must also take into account various reports including those of the Special Investigating Unit, Public Protector, Auditor General and Parliament.
The preconditions that have been partially met are:
* Produce separate financial reporting for public and commercial broadcasting services; and
* Identify non-core assets for disposal to assist with reducing the recapitalisation requirement from government.
She says the SABC has not met the condition to develop a comprehensive private sector participation (PSP) strategy, clearly highlighting initiatives to be implemented and the net value to be derived from these partnerships.
“However, willingness to work on this condition has been expressly provided.”