20 March, 2017 - 06:50
The SABC is in chaos, with the finances of the state broadcaster in such disarray that a halt has been called to producing new TV shows and staff members fear they won't be paid. By Charl Blignaut
SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said this week that the organisation's finances were under pressure, with the SABC now funding its activities from its reserves , and put the blame on the global economy, the media, the parliamentary inquiry into the fitness of the SABC board to hold office and a lack of government support.
However, numerous senior insiders say the situation is far worse.
We're not even sure [if] we can pay salaries at month's end, said an insider close to the treasury division.
Hlaudi's [Motsoeneng] chickens have come home to roost ... It's worse than [the SABC's financial collapse in] 2008 - but this time it's not likely that anyone will bail us out, said another.
However, Kganyago insisted salaries would be paid and denied the crisis was worse than in 2008.
We collect revenue every day. Yes, our reserves are down, but we are able to meet all our commitments, he said.
A human capital management crisis
None of the highly placed insiders City Press spoke to wished to be named for fear of losing their jobs. They all said that posts were now frozen.
The problem is that Hlaudi went on a drive to make freelancers permanent and now we are stuck with an inflated human resources (HR) bill in finance, risk, HR, the executive, news, sport and marketing. They don't know what to do with the people because they can't be moved to critical operational areas such as TV and sales because they lack the necessary skills, said one.
Many of those promised permanent jobs received only fixed-term contracts, and now, says Hannes du Buisson, president of the Broadcasting, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers' Union, those contracts are not being renewed and, increasingly, former staffers are heading to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) because they had reasonable expectations of their contracts being renewed.
We have so far filed three disputes for freelancers who were given fixed-term contracts by Motsoeneng, said Du Buisson.
Our members had been working towards promotions, but the posts they sought are no longer open.
Tuwani Gumani, general secretary of the Media Workers' Association of SA, said the SABC had cut back hard on security staff.
We have repeatedly warned the SABC that it is facing a human capital management crisis. People are now being reduced in tranches, he said.
Regarding former freelancers, Gumani said: We predict there will be a substantial number of CCMA cases coming.
About the frozen posts, Kganyago said yesterday: There are a lot of people in the building, some are not utilised fully ... And they are asking where can they convert people's skills to fit the needs of the positions, because the wage bill is already more than it should be. So, until they utilise these people properly, these vacancies will remain frozen.
He said the SABC would be hiring only where scarce skills were required.
Regarding a surge in CCMA cases, he said: We do not have control over people going to the CCMA.
Growing discontent
Meanwhile, there is growing discontent over acting group chief executive officer (CEO) James Aguma, whose term Communications Minister Faith Muthambi extended for three months in January. According to the SABC's most recent annual report, Aguma received a 67.25% increase in salary last year, which pushed his package from R1.3m to nearly R2.2m per year. Aguma also collected a 13th cheque of R181 000 last December.
Kganyago said Aguma's was not an unreasonably high increase .
He was a manager, then he became chief financial officer and then acting CEO. Of course he had to get increases. Over a long period, we did not pay 13th cheques. But then we realised that this was going against our conditions of employment. And the board approved this, he said.
TV content producers are jumpy. Three insiders said no new TV shows were being commissioned and all the SABC will be doing is renewing existing contracts .
Said one insider: A memo was circulated recently to say that the SABC couldn't meet its commitments, so producers would not receive mid-month payments, which is standard when they first sign contracts. This may have an adverse impact on SABC3's relaunch in April.
Another insider said: SABC1 and SABC2 will be okay, but there is talk that SABC3 won't make it. They are making no money and no one knows how long they can stay on air.
One TV content producer said: I was in ... a meeting with senior TV people because they had stopped paying on a project I am attached to. They say it is just a delay. They assured me all contracts would be paid out, but there would be no new commissions. SABC3 is flat broke.
Kganyago responded: I don't know what they mean. Yes, SABC3 is not reaching its targets - that is why it is relaunching. Next week, we will be showcasing the new programmes, including local content.
Regarding a freeze on new shows, Kganyago said: That is not true. In January, we put out new content on SABC2. In February, we did the same for SABC1. In March, it is SABC3.
www.news24.com
Television
Africa South Africa
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it's given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what ...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
With John Daro, DI Colourist at Warner Bros. Water Tower Color Tuesday 23 June, 10am-1pm or 3-6pm
Restar Corporation
Tokyo
Register here
John Daro is the ...
12/06/2026
Meet The Grumpy Onion Ireland's newest online sensation, all he wants is to ...
12/06/2026
RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast
Adding to the fun around 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, RT has launched a brand new d...
12/06/2026
A fentanyl countermeasure that adapts to combat future black-market drugs Scripps Research scientists developed a vaccine that teaches the immune system to rapi...
11/06/2026
The immense size of the tourney and its Atlantic-spanning operation also disting...
20 March, 2017 - 06:50 
