South Africa: Public Broadcaster gets state bail-out

Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda announced on 24 November 2009 that the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will receive a state bail-out of R1, 473 billion. This follows the approval by the Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

“We hope that the financial injection by government will help the SABC meet its urgent needs, such as payment of outstanding debts and other matters of priority,” Nyanda said.

The Department of Treasury confirmed that R1 billion will be made available immediately and the remaining R473 million will be subject to the broadcaster presenting a plan with clear revenue targets and cost-cutting measures, to enable effective oversight and monitoring.

Interim SABC Board Chairwoman Irene Charnley said the interim board had already started identifying cost-cutting measures and putting in place governance systems to guard against wasteful expenditure. Cost-cutting measures and a turn-around strategy implemented by the interim board in the past four months had saved the corporation R65 million. Communications Ministry Spokesman Tiyani Rikhotso said the intervention would help stabilize the SABC after prolonged periods of uncertainty among staff members and the public.

- November 25, 2009 by MISA

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Source: www.misa.org (received via email alert on 25.11.2009)