The SABC has finally received a lifeline from government in the form of R3,2 billion but the bail out comes with strict conditions. Minister of Communications and digital technologies, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams held a media briefing on Friday to explain the preconditions that were imposed on the public broadcaster.
“The Department of Communications (DoC) has assisted 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”, said Ndabeni-Abrahams.
The minister further stated that the two departments have worked together to facilitate the initial tranche of the R3,2billion allocation to be transferred to the SABC. R2,1billion was transferred to the public broadcaster on Monday, 07 October 2019. The remaining balance of R1,1billion will be transferred once the SABC fully meets the remaining three outstanding conditions or firmly demonstrates evidence to fully comply.
Firstly the SABC is required to provide an update of how the entity is dealing with the people implicated in the investigation report. They need to further develop a turnaround plan that incorporates measures to prevent the reoccurrence of the identified factors. Most importantlythe public broadcaster needs to conduct a thorough investigation into what caused their financial collapse and why previous turnaround plans have failed to be successfully implemented.
In closing Ndabeni-Abrahams said that the SABC would need more than the allocated R3,2 billion but acknowledged that the public broadcaster has a mammoth task regarding the required turnaround plans.
