The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has denied claims by the Sunday Times newspaper that the broadcaster is requesting an additional bailout from government.
“SABC has noted with concern the incorrect and misleading article titled “SABC again pleads poverty, cites virus”, published by the Sunday Times newspaper on Sunday,” the public broadcaster said in a statement.
Below is a full statement by the SABC:
The article states that the SABC will on Monday appear before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technology to request additional funding.
Acting SABC Spokesperson Mmoni Seapolelo says this is not true.
“The SABC has not requested any additional funding and has no meeting scheduled for tomorrow with the Portfolio Committee on this matter. In fact, the SABC will be presenting its 2020/2021 Corporate Plan to the Portfolio Committee on Wednesday.”
The SABC acknowledges that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact and affected the SABC’s revenue projections for this fiscal due to the decline in advertising spend. However, Seapolelo says the revenue shortfall figures and forecasted losses quoted by the Sunday Times are inaccurate.
“The correct forecasted numbers have been submitted to the Shareholder and will be presented to the Portfolio Committee in due course.”
Seapolelo says since the SABC received its bailout allocation from Treasury, “the SABC has restored a healthy working capital cycle aligned with the cash flow forecasting models.”
In the video below, SABC Board Chair Bongumusa Makhathini sheds more light on the issue:
